OVEN-BIRD
1402
OVULE
the ovules. As the term ovary is already well-established among animals in connection with the organ which produces eggs, its present application in flowers is extremely unfortunate, since the ovary of flowers holds no relation to a female sex-organ. It has been suggested on this account that the term ovulary be substituted for it in flowers. See FLOWERS.
Ov'en=Bird% a small bird but burdened with many names — teacher bird, golden-crowned thrush, golden - crowned wagtail, wood wagtail, etc. etc. It is a wood-warbler, spends most of its time on the ground or in undergrowth. It is shyest of the shy, its call of " teacher, teacher , TEACHER, TEACHER, TEACHER,
TEACHER " better known than the manner of its appearance. Very rarely heard, but rarest treat to him that hears, is its flight-song of the nesting season; an inspired, joyous warbling that the little bird pours forth from tree-top. It is smaller than the English sparrow, upper part of the body olive-colored, crown a golden-brown, underneath white, breast spotted. It is widely aiscnbuted in the United States, migrates in May and October, its preferred habitat dry woods. The nest is not easily found, so artfully fashioned and made to look a part of the leaf-covered ground; in form resembling an old-time Dutch oven, roofed over, the entrance not at the top but at the side, the structure of leaves, grasses, rootlets and weed-stalks. The creamy-white eggs are speckled, and number four or five.
O'verbeck, Friedrich Johann, a noted German painter, was born at Lubeck, Prussia, in 1789, and studied at Vienna and at Rome. He, with four others, founded a school of art that had much influence in Europe, though mocked at with such names as Pre-Raphaelites and Nazarites. A madonna, painted in 1811, brought Overbeck into notice, and he was employed by the Prussian consul to execute frescoes in his house at Rome illustrating the story of Joseph. His chief work is The Vision of St. Francis, a fresco at Assisi. Among his famous pictures are Christ's Entry into Jerusalem, at Lubeck; Christ's Agony in the Garden, at Hamburg; The Incredulity of St. Thomas, at London. Many of his drawings, as wfell as of his paintings and frescoes, have been engraved. He died at Rome, Nov. 12, 1869. See Life by Atkinson in the Great Artists Series.
O'vertones', sometimes called harmonics, are a series of weak tones which accompany the production of any given note on a musical instrument. The lowest string on a guitar is called an E string, because, when plucked, the lowest and the loudest note which it can emit is E. This note, E, is, therefore, called the fundamental. If we denote the number of vibrations per second in this fundamental note by unity, then the series of fainter notes, which accompany the fundamental whenever the string is plucked, will have frequencies which are denoted by the numbers 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, etc. These secondary notes are called overtones or harmonics. They are very marked in the case of stringed instruments provided with sounding boards (such as the piano and violin), and add greatly to the richness of the tone. They are nearly absent in the case of the tuning fork, and hence the pure but thin tone of the fork. See MUSICAL NOTATION.
Ov'id (Publius Ovidius Naso), the Latin poet, was born in Sulmo, Italy, March 20, 43 B. C. He was educated at home, his father putting him under the best of teachers to train him for the bar. He soon gave up the practice of law and went to Athens, Asia Minor and Sicily. His first success was won by his tragedy of Medea. Then followed his Epistles, imaginary love-letters. His Art of Love, his masterpiece, was published in three books. The Metamorphoses, in 15 books, contain some of the finest work in ancient literature The Fasti, only six books of which were finished, are a poetical commentary on the calendar, giving the origin of Roman feast-days. He was banished by Emperor Augustus to Tomi (Kustendje) on the Euxine, south of the mouth of the Danube, for some unknown offense. He admitted that the punishment was deserved, but says he was rather the witness than the author of the crime. In 9 A. D. he left Rome, making his home for the last eight years of his life at Tomi, constantly writing appeals to the emperor for a release from the sentence of banishment. Here he wrote the Tristia in five books and Letters in four, making him one of the most prolific of Latin poets. He died in 17 A D.
O'vulary. See OVARY.
O'vule (in plants), the peculiar megaspor-angium of seed-plants, which in gymnosperms is exposed upon a scale, and in angiosperms is inclosed within that part of the carpel called the ovary. It is the ovule which, after fertilization, becomes the seed. The ordinary ovule consists of the following parts: one or two integuments, which are distinguishable only above and leave a narrow passageway (micropyle) through which the pollen tube passes; and the nucellus or main body of the ovule, inclosed by the integuments, and containing the single large mega-spore (embryo-sac). Ovules are of various
OVEN-BIRD
