I

to give someone advice about the best action to take for his or her own best interests (a metaphor; see Molina); literally, I set down feathers, paints, and chalk

feathers (see Molina)

a tree with a red flower that resembles a bird's feather
(Valley of Mexico, 1570–1587)

The Mexican Treasury: The Writings of Dr. Francisco Hernández, ed. Simon Varey, transl. Rafael Chabrán, Cynthia L. Chamberlin, and Simon Varey (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2000), 127.

don Hernando Ihuiyantzin was a nobleman of Tetzcoco; he was born in the home of Coanacochtzin; his mother was a scandalous woman who was the offspring of Papan (a woman of Coatlan) and Xicomotecatl (who, in turn, was a son of Cihuateotl of Huexotzinco and Tlacotl of Tetzcoco)(central Mexico, early seventeenth century)
Codex Chimalpahin: Society and Politics in Mexico Tenochtitlan, Tlatelolco, Culhuacan, and Other Nahuatl Altepetl in Central Mexico; The Nahuatl and Spanish Annals and Accounts Collected and Recorded by don Domingo de San Antón Muñón Chimalpahin Quauhtlehuanitzin, eds. and transl. Arthur J. O. Anderson and Susan Schroeder (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1997), vol. 2, 184–185.

a feathered bird (see Molina)

the growing of feathers or quills on birds; or to put feathers on an image, or to decorate with a feathered ornament (see Molina)

featherworker, one who glues feathers together

James Lockhart, Nahuatl as Written: Lessons in Older Written Nahuatl, with Copious Examples and Texts (Stanford: Stanford University Press and UCLA Latin American Studies, 2001), 220.