NOPE—NULLIPENNES 645 



Louisiana, where it is especially the Pa'pe of the French-speaking 

 inhabitants (see Bishop- BIRD, page 40) it is said to be very- 

 abundant ; and on its appearance in spring advantage is, or 

 was, taken of the pugnacious disposition of the males (which so 

 often accompanies a brilliant sexually-distinct plumage) to capture 

 them alive in great numbers by means of the stuffed skin of one so 

 placed in connexion with a cage-trap that they instantly fall into 

 the latter on attacking what they conceive to be a rival. In this 

 way many thousands are said to have been taken formerly. The 

 prisoner usually reconciles himself to his fate, and in a few days 

 will utter his sprightly though not very powerful song; and, if 

 provided with a mate and proper accommodation, will breed and 

 rear a family in confinement. Belonging to the same genus as the 

 Nonpareil is the Indigo-bird, Cyanospiza cyanea, which, as a summer 

 visitant, is widely diffused from the Missouri to the Atlantic, and 

 extends into the provinces of Ontario and New Brunswick, being 

 everywhere regarded with favour. Though wanting most of the 

 bright hues of its congener, the Indigo-bird has yet much beauty, 

 the adult cock being nearly all over of a deep blue, changing, 

 according to the light, to green. The hen is brown above and 

 ochreous-white beneath. This species is represented in the western 

 part of the continent by the Lazuli-Finch, C. amcena, the male of 

 M-hich has the upper parts greenish-blue, the wings barred with 

 white, a pectoral band of light chestnut extending to the flanks on 

 each side, and the lower parts white. Of the three remaining 

 species of the genus, C. versicolor shews in the male a plumage 

 beautifully varied with brownish-red, violet, and blue ; C. ledancheri 

 is bluish-green above and yellow beneath, Avith an orange breast ; 

 while C. rositie, though quite distinct, comes nearest in coloration to 

 C. ciris. These three have a more southern range than the other 

 three ; but the first of them is believed occasionally to cross the 

 Mexican frontier into the United States. None of the species of 

 Cyanospiza are thought to occur further south than the isthmus of 

 Panama ; but the wonderful Ciridops anna of Hawaii (Wilson and 

 Evans, Birds of the Sanchvich Islands) is possibly allied to this genus. 



NOPE, a name of the Bullfinch, said to be an old corruption 

 of Alp or some other form of that word (see page 1 0) which has taken 

 on an initial n borrowed from the indefinite article an.''- 



NOEFOLK PLOVER, a needless book-name for the Stone- 

 Curlew (see page 129), apparently invented by Pennant in 1766. 



^ Like a newt for " an ewt " (or eft), a nickname for "an ekename," a noTce 

 for "an oak," and several other words (c/. Skeat, Utymol. Did. sub litt. N") ; 

 but the only case among English birds' names where the converse process, or loss 

 of a real initial n, has happened as in adder for "nadder," auger for " nauger," 

 seems to be that of eyas for " NiAS." 



