piopion.
/ˈpiːəʊpiːəʊ/, /ˈpjəʊpjəʊ/, U.S. /ˈpioʊˌpioʊ/, New Zealand English /ˈpiopio/, /ˈpjʌupjʌu/ An olive-brown thrush-like songbird, Turnagra capensis, which formerly occurred in New Zealand but was probably extinct by the mid 20th cent. Also called native thrush, New Zealand thrush.The piopio is of uncertain taxonomic position and has been variously placed in the families Turnagridae, Pachycephalidae, and Paradisaeidae.
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the world > animals > birds > order Passeriformes (singing) > family Muscicapidae (thrushes, etc.) > [noun] > subfamily Pachycephalinae > other types of
piopio1841
native thrush1894
1841 N.Z. Jrnl. 2 86 [A bird] called Biobio.
1843 E. Dieffenbach Trav. N.Z. I. 119 The forest was enlivened by many of the common birds, and I brought home one of a new species, called pio-pio.
1873 W. L. Buller Hist. Birds N.Z. 136 The silvery notes of the Bell-bird, the bolder song of the Tui,..and the whistling cry of the Piopio—all these voices of the forest are blended together.
1938 M. Gordon Children of Tane vi. 160 The southern Piopio has been more often encountered than the northern.
1969 J. Fisher et al. Red Bk. 301/1 The piopio is certainly very rare indeed; but just how rare it is can only be discovered by hard field studies.
2003 N.Y. Rev. Bks. 13 Mar. 9/1 It brimmed with giant weta, tuatara, the world's most primitive frogs, and of course, birds, including the liquid-voiced piopio, the blue kokako, [etc.].
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2006; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1841