Of All Animals. 27

# On Birds Related to Coots

In the third volume of my *Ornithology*, I noted that according to Albertus Magnus, certain birds called coots should actually be classified among the mergansers. Similarly, that author wrote that two species of coots—a larger and a smaller variety—are found in Italy, though he himself believed the larger coot to be Aristotle’s "water raven." In reality, only one kind of coot is found in Italy.

Among the Indians, the bird known as the *Yachacintli* seems to belong to the coots described by modern authors. it has green legs, a blue head and belly that lean toward purple, and wings of mixed tawny and black. Its beak is three fingers wide and long, turning scarlet at the base, and the front part of its head is bald. It lives on fish near lakes and rivers; its meat is edible, but far from a pleasant food.

The Indians give the same name to another bird that similarly resembles a coot, though others call it the *Quachiltone*. It is purple in color, interspersed with black and white feathers. The beak is pale at the base in its youth but turns red as it matures, with a bald patch at the origin of the beak. Its legs are yellow, inclining toward green, and end in four pale toes. Its eyes are black with tawny irises. It runs around marshes, living on fish, and unlike the bird mentioned above, its meat is quite tasty. Finally, this bird mimics the wakefulness and song of a rooster, for it sings in the dead of night and at the first light of dawn.

# On Aquatic and Exotic Sparrows

In the regions of Mexico, there is a bird called the *Acototloquichitl*, or water sparrow, so named because it resembles our local sparrow in size and shape. It has a black beak and tawny legs and feet; the lower part of its body is mostly white, while the rest is tawny, variegated with some white and black. It is a creature of persistent song, for it chirps as long as the sun is up, chattering with a stubborn sound that mimics the squeaking of mice. It usually perches and nests in reed beds, and it is entirely different from the water sparrow mentioned in the second book of my *Ornithology*.

There is another bird in those regions also called the "water sparrow," which earned its name from its remarkable foolishness and simplicity. It does not flee from the hands of those trying to catch it; it simply looks on in wonder, standing dazed like a witless bird. In its voice it resembles a jackdaw, in size a magpie, and in shape a gull. Its beak is thin, three inches long, round, and straight, yet slightly curved near the tip. It has black pupils and a greyish ring of skin around its eyes. Its legs are black, and its feet are equipped with membranes like those of webbed-footed animals. It is a seabird and feeds on small fish.

Furthermore, when sailors approach, these birds sit in the trees and confidently come right to their hands; for this reason, they are called "stupid sparrows." In Bologna, however, they give the name "stupid sparrow" to a bird quite different from these—specifically a species of wagtail that some fowlers also commonly call "magnanimous." There is also another small bird that mimics the sparrow in its body shape, though it is very different in color; these were discussed more fully in the second book of the *Ornithology*.