Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 17.djvu/578

534 N O N N R by Passow (1834), by Marcellus (1861), and in Migne s Patrologia. For Nonnus s metrical innovations see Hermann, Orphica, pp. 869-691 ; and Lehrs, Qutestiones Epicse. NONPAREIL, the name under which, from its sup posed matchless beauty, a little cage-bird, chiefly imported from New Orleans, has long been known to English dealers (</. Edwards, Gleanings, i. p. 132). It is the Emberiza ciris of Linnaeus, 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 pintado, (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 cap ture 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 pro vided 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 arid New Brunswick, being every where 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 con tinent 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. rositse, 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.) NONSUIT (i.e., non suit, he does not pursue) is the name given to a judgment whereby an issue is determined against the plaintiff. It was a term peculiar to the English com mon-law courts before the Judicature Acts, and was simply the expression of the opinion of the court that, apart from the merits, the plaintiffs case was incomplete. It did not in any way act as a bar to his bringing another action for the same cause. It might be entered either at the wish of the plaintiff himself (to whom it was of course much more beneficial than judgment for the defendant) or by direction of the court against the will of the plaintiff. The matter now is of no great importance, for, although judgment of nonsuit still exists, it has, since the Judicature Acts, the same effect as a judgment on the merits, unless the court otherwise directs. This effect of a nonsuit was specially provided for by the rules of the Supreme Court of 1875. The rules of 1883 do not deal with nonsuit, but no doubt the practice which has existed between 1875 and 1883 will still be followed. NOODT, GERHARD (1647-1725), a celebrated jurist, was born at Nimeguen in 1647. He began his studies in his native town, continued them at Leyden and Utrecht, and finished them at Franeker, where he took his doctor s degree in law. After passing through successive grades of promotion he was ultimately appointed to a law chair at Leyden. It was in the character of a writer on juris prudence, however, that he acquired his reputation. His Latin style, modelled after the best writers, was pure and precise ; he had, for his time, an intimate acquaintance with the laws, manners, and customs of ancient Rome ; his speculations were guided by a simple desire for truth, and his political opinions animated by a spirit of unusual toler ation. His numerous works, as they successively appeared, soon rose to the rank of standard authorities. Two of his political treatises were translated into French by Barbey- rac, and appeared at Amsterdam in 1707 and 1714, under the respective titles of Pouvoir des Souverains and Liberte de Conscience ; and his jurisprudential writings, to which he Avas still adding when cut off in 1725, were held in high estimation, not in Holland only, but also in Germany and Scotland, till quite the end of last century. The first edition of his collected works was published at Leyden in 1724, and the last in 1767. That of 1735 and those sub sequent contain a life of the author by Barbeyrac. NORD, the most northern of the departments of France, formed out of Flanders, French Hainault, and the district of Cambrais (Cambresis), lies between 50 and 51 6 N. lat., and between 2 5 and 4 15 E. long., but in such a way that, while it has a length from south-east to north-west of 112 miles, its breadth is nowhere more than 40 miles, and contracts to 4 at the point where it is crossed by the Lys. Bounded N.W. and N. for 21 miles by the North Sea, it has the Belgian provinces of West Flanders and Hainault on the N.E. and E., the departments of Aisne and Somme on the S., and that of Pas-de-Calais on the W. The Flanders portion to the west of the Scheldt is very flat, the hill at Cassel, only 575 feet high, rising like a mountain, and looking north towards Dunkirk over a stretch of 155 square miles of richly fertile lowlands, which about a thousand years ago were still covered by the sea. To the south-east of the Scheldt the country has the char acter of the neighbouring district of Ardennes, is better wooded, and contains the highest point in the department (875 feet). The greater part of Nord is in the Scheldt basin, but certain portions belong to those of the Sambre (Meuse), the Oise (Seine), and the little coast -streams the Aa and the Yser. The Scheldt, flowing by Cambrai, Bouchain, Valenciennes, and Conde, receives the Scarpe, which touches Douai, Marchiennes, and St Amand. The Lys, which does not join the Scheldt till it has entered Belgium, passes Armentieres, and receives the Deule, on which Lille is situated. The Sambre passes Landrecies and Maubeuge. The Aa falls into the port at Gravelines. The climate of Nord is colder than that of France in general, the mean temperature being 49 or 50 Fahr. The rainfall is 12 inches at Dunkirk and a little more