NONPAREIL, the name under which, from its supposed matchless beauty, a little cage-bird, chiefly imported from New Orleans, has long been known to English dealers (cf. Edwards, Gleanings, i. p. 132). It is the Emberiza ciris of Linninus, and the Cyanospiza ciris of most recent ornithologists, belonging to a small group, which, in the present state of knowledge, cannot with certainty be referred either to the Buntings or to the Finches, while some authors have regarded it as a TANAGER (q.v.). The cock has the head, neck, and lesser wing-coverts bright blue, the upper part of the back yellow, deepening into green, and the lower parts generally, together with the rump, bright scarlet, tinged on the latter with purple. This gorgeous colouring is not assumed until the bird is at least two years old. The hen is green above and yellow beneath ; and the younger cocks present an appearance intermediate between the adults of both sexes. The species, which is often also called the Painted Bunting, after wintering in Central America or Mexico, arrives in the southern States of the American Union in April, but does not ordinarily proceed to the northward of South Carolina. In Louisiana, where it is generally known to the French-speaking inhabitants as the Pape - as it was to the Spaniards of Florida as the Mariposa pintada (painted butterfly) - 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 which 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 shows in the male a plumage beautifully varied with brownish-red,_ violet, and blue ; C. leclancheri is bluish-green above and yellow beneath, with an orange breast ; while C. rositx, 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. (A. N.)