American White Pelican, a bird (see Hunn, attestations)
Ā-TŌTO-LIN, literally, “domestic fowl/turkey of the water, American White Pelican (Pelecanus erythrorhynchus).” [FC: 27 Atotolin] “It is large, broad-billed. It has a net-like throat. It is white like the turkey-cock.” [FC: 29 Atototlin] “It is the ruler, the leader of all the water birds, the ducks. When the various birds come, this is when it comes; it brings them here at the time of the Feast of Santiago, in the month of July. And the head of this pelican {atotolin} is rather large, black. Its bill is yellow, round, a span long. Its breast, its back are all white…. This pelican does not nest anywhere in the reeds; it always lives there in the middle of the water, and it is said that it is the heart of the lagoon because it lives in the middle….” There follows details of beliefs about the pelican reported by local fishing folk. In the Historia General two species of pelicans are noted, “hay unas de aves blancas….y otras ametaladas” (quoted in Martin del Campo: 394), the latter the coastal Brown Pelican (Pelecanus californianus). Ā-TŌTO-LIN, literally, “domestic turkey of the water” [FC: 29-30 Atotolin: “It is the ruler, the leader of all the water birds. When the various birds come, this is when it comes; it brings them here at the time of the Feast of Santiago, in the month of July.” The elaborate description leaves no doubt that this is the American White Pelican. The coastal Brown Pelican (Pelecanus occidentalis) is contrasted in the Historia General as having “metallic” as opposed to white plumage (Martin del Campo 1940) and would be included within the extended range of this category.