The Conquistadors' Fantastical Ornithology

Abstract

During the first century of the conquest, Oviedo, Herrera, López de Gómara, Cieza de León, the Society of Jesus, and other authors wrote fanciful descriptions of the fauna in the Río de la Plata Provinces. They focused on recounting the most remarkable animals and plants they encountered. These accounts are based on three main points: fantastical legends, the mysterious curative influence they attributed to birds, and their own observations, described by Cardoso as more foolish than ignorant. These accounts presented impossible metamorphoses, such as the transformation of worms and mosquitoes into higher classes of vertebrates. In this volume, he describes hummingbirds, cuckoos, and other birds.