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Search Issues: Update 2026-09-16 - Repairs to some of our search pages are ongoing. Thank you for your continued patience!
Meanwhile, elements of the Advanced Search are working and the Alphabetical Listings are working, too.
Rose-throated Becard, a bird (see Hunn, attestations)
YOLLO-TŌTŌ-TL, literally, “heart bird,” Rose-throated Becard (Pachyramphus aglaiae) [FC: 25 Yollotototl] “It lives there in [the province of] Teotlixco, toward the southern sea. It is quite small, the same as a quail. As for its being called yollotototl, the people there say thus: that when we die, our hearts turn into [these birds]. And when it speaks, when it sings, it makes its voice pleading; it indeed gladdens one’s heart, it consoles one. [On] its head, on its breast, on its back it is rather ashen, rather yellow. Its tail is black, only at the tips of the feathers, white [and black] are mixed. The wing-tips are white.” Martin del Campo identified this bird as the Rose-breasted Grosbeak (Pheucticus ludovicianus). He inferred this from the conspicuous red breast mark of this grosbeak. However, the Rose-breasted Grosbeak is a winter visitor to Mexico and thus not likely to be heard singing. I suspect that the bird in question may be the Rose-throated Becard, though the description of the wings and tail might favor instead the Gray-collared Becard (Pachyramphus major). Both sing plaintive songs (Howell & Webb).