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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.
a wren, a bird (see Hunn, attestations)
Ā-YACACH-TŌTŌ-TL, wrens of the genus Campylorhynchus [FC: 46 Aiacachtototl] “It is tawny. It is called ayacachtototl because its call, which it makes when it sings, is cha cha cha cha, shi shi shi shi, charechi, charechi, cho cho cho cho.” Identified by Friedman et. al. as the Band-backed Wren (Campylorhynchus zonatus). On the basis of their distributions, however, several species of this genus are more likely to have been familiar to the Aztec of the Valley of Mexico, all of which might match the description of plumage and vocalizations. These include Cactus Wren (C. brunneicapillus), Gray-barred Wren (C. megalopterus), Spotted Wren (C. gularis), and Boucard’s Wren (C. jocosus). It is likely the Aztecs applied one name to the various species of the genus Campylorhynchus.
See the Florentine Codex for a painting of this bird: