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and looking like an egg-fheli, gave farther countenance to this error in lefs knowing ages. Ovum rumphi:, in natural' hiftory, the name of a fpecies of porcelane Jbill y of the ohlong kind, called an egfy from its ihape, by that author. See Porcellana. OUZELL, or Brock Ovzzll* in zoology, an Englifh name for the rollus aquaticus, more ufually called the water rail. See the article Rollus. Duzell or Ring Ouzell, an Englifh name for a bird of the merula or blackbird kind, remarkable for a white ring about its neck, and thence called by authors merula terquata ; it is more commonly called in Engliih, the ring amzell. Ra/s Ornithology, p. 144- See Amzell. OUZEL, or 'Water Ouzel, the Engliih name of the merula
aquatics. See Merula. OWL, in zoology. See the article Bueo. Chum Owl. See Caprimulgus. Horn Owl. See Horn. _
Owl fifty ox fea Owl, in ichthyography, an Engliih name for the Itanpus, more frequently called the lump-fijh ; and by the Scotch the cock-paddle. Willughbj's Hiit. Pifc. p. 208. See the article Lumpus. Owl pigeon., the name of a particular fpecies of pigeon, called by Moore the columba bubo nominata. Jt is a fmall and fhort- bodied ptgecn. It has a fhort round head, and has a feries of feathers that feparate and open two ways upon the breaft : but its moft remarkable character is its beak, the upper chop of which is bent, and hooked over like an owl's : this is the occafion of its name. It is of various colours, as white, blue, or black, but is always of only one colour, never pied. Moore's Columbarium, p. 54. OX, bos, in zoology. See the article Bos.
The ox is a very ferviceable animal, in many refpe&s ; but his nature depends wholly on that of the bull and cow, from which he is bred. Derbyshire and Lancashire are fald to have the beft oxen in England. Wales, and the ifiand of Anglefea, afford a kind that are very valuable to the farmers, as they will fatten upon middling land; and the Scotch oxen are yet hardier than thefe. The long-legged fhort-horned cow, of the Dutch breed, is the beft for milk ; but then this kind needs to be very carefully kept. This fort of cow will of- ten yield two gallons of milk at a time. When thefe creatures are intended to breed, the better the land is the larger fort of beafts are to be chofen, and the greater will be the profit. But of whatever fort the breed is, the bull mould always be of the fame country with the cow, otherwife it never fucceeds fo well. The bull ihould be chofen of a fharp quick countenance, his forehead broad and curled, his eyes black and large, his horns long, his neck flefhy, his belly long and large, and his hair fmooth and like velvet ; his breaft ihould be large, his back ftrait and flat, his buttocks fquare, his thighs round, his legs ftrait, and his joints fhort. This fort of bull is the beft for breed, and makes the beft oxen for draught as well as for fattening. The cow ought to have a broad forehead, black eyes, great clean horns, the neck long and thin, the belly large and deep, the thighs thick, the legs round, and the joints fhort ; a white large and deep udder with four teats, and large feet. The fize muft be proportioned to the goodnefs of the land.
- The largeft cows, in general, give the greateft quantity of
^milk ; and it is always a good rule to take the cattle from a . ' worfe ground than that on which they are to be kept ; for if from a better they are apt to degenerate. The beft time of a cow's life for breeding of calves, is from three years old till twelve : the black cows are ufually chofen to bieed out of. The largeft oxen are to be chofen for work, and for feeding, but then it muft be where there is land rich enough to main- tain them. When they are to draw, care muft be taken to match them well, both for height and ftrength; for if one be fironger than the other, the weakeft will foon be deftroyed. They muft never be driven beyond their natural pace, for the beatingthem throws them into furfeits,and many other difeafes. The time of putting oxen to work, is at three years old ; they muft be worked gently the firft year, efpecia! y in hot weather, and fed with a large quantity of hay : this will 'enable them to bear their labour better than grafs ; and they Jhould be always kept in a middle ftate, neither too fat nor too lean. They may be worked till they arc ten or twelve vear old, and then fold.
It is obferved, that meat and fair treatment, fuccecd much better with this animal than blows. The beft way to break a young one to the yoke, is to put him to it with an old tame ox of about his own height and ftrength. If he prove unruly after this, he muft be kept hungry, and made to feed out of the driver's hand. Oxen are much more profitable to keep than horfes, there being no lofs in them ; and an old wrought ex fattening as well as a young one, and being as good meat. Their keeping alfo is cheaper, for they cat no oats : their harnefs and their ihoes alfo are confiderably chea- per, and they are not fo fiibje& to difeafes. They muft al- ways indeed have good grafs and good hay, and they are not fo ferviceable as horfes, when there is much working in carts, and where the ways are good ; but for winter plowing, where the ground is heavy, an ax will do as much work as a horfe. bupPL. Vol. li.
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Every farmer who can keep two teams, would do wifely to have one of them of horfes, and the other of oxen ; it is much better to yoke them together by the necks and breaft:, than by the horns as forne do j and where a man keep* an ox team, he ihould raife two oxen and two cow calves every year to keep up his ftock ; for it is better for a farmer, in ail necefTary things, to be a feller than a buyer. Chalky land fpoila the feet of oxen more than any other. Mortimer* Husband- ry? p- 233.
Stealing Oxen, of creatures of the ox kind, old or young, whe- ther bull, cow, &<•> ftrictly fo called, fteer, bullock, heifer, or calf, is now felony without benefit of clergy ; as is like- wife killing any of thefe, wiih an intent to fteal'any part of their carcafes. Stat. 15 &c 16. Geo. II. c. 34. & 6tat. 14. Geo. II. c. 6. See Cattle.
Dijeafes of Oxen. As fcarce any creature is more ufeful to man than the ox kind, nothing is more worthy confide- ration than the nature and origin of their difeafes, and the remedies for them. The fame diftemper that has of late years carried off fuch vaft numbers of thefe cattle with us and elfewhere, has at other times raged in Italy. In the year 1710, and the fucceeding one, there was a great mortality amongft the horned cattle there, and the occafion of it was evidently the unnatural feafon preceding. The whole au- tumn before had been wet, and at the time of the winter folftice there were continual cold winds, and fmall, but laft- ing rains. The fpring that fucceeded, was alfo cold and rainy, and the defeat of heat and abundance of moifture, made a change in the whole face of nature : the medicinal fprings had not their wonted effect ; and the fruits of the earth could not appear at their proper feafons, nor in their due perfection. The grafs was injured by this, and the ground rendered continually damp and unwhohfome ; and to this was evidently owing the malignant and contagious difcafe that raged among the cattle afterwards. It was fuppofed at that time with them, as of late with us and elfewhere, that the contagion was brought in among their oxen by ftrange cattle coming from infected places, but this proved to be an error j for if an ox was removed to ever fo diftant a pafture, he ne- ver efcaped the better for it : the whole earth and its produc- tions were vitiated throughout the country, and there was no fafety in any part of it. Aiicbelotti de Morbis Bourn. The ufe of this obfervation muft be, the keeping the cattle in fucceeding years out of the way of thofe things which oc- cafion their ficknefles in fuch as thefe. If the autumn or winter be extremely cold and wet, remove the cattle out of the low grounds, and put them to feed in fandy dry foils on the high grounds ; give them water from fuch places where the fun has moft power, and it is lefs chilling cold than in others j and in cafes of imminent danger, always mix fome fait in it. If the bad weather continues, let them always have clean ftraw to lie on, and a dry covering; and in cafes where the contagion is aircady begun, the fumigating the houfes where they are kept with bay-leaves and eleutherian bark, is judged convenient. As to remedies, when they are once feized with the diftemper, it is hard to underltand what intention to prefcribe in, and how to afcertain the dofes; and as the late practice, in attempting to cure, has been of very iittle fcrvice, the cautions for the preferving and preventing the difeafe, ought to be redoubled, to prevent an almoft in- curable misfortune.
The difeafes of oxen are much lefs frequent than thofe of the human fpecies; but where-ever they appear, they ufually be- come more violent after a time, and generally are very con- tagious. In Italy in the year 171 r, there appeared a difeafe among the oxeny which carried off as great numbers es the late diftemper among us has done. Some acrid and cauftic falts in the blood, feem to have been one of the principal caufes of this difcafe; as when the blood was let out at the ear of the dying cattle, and fell upon the ground, there were always found, as it dried up, certain concretions of falts fparkling like fo many cryftals.
In many of the creatures which were opened, after dying with this difeafe, the infides of the ftomach and intcftines were found covered with tubercles like the puftules of the fmall- pox: the common people fuppofed this the caufe of the di- feafe.; but upon farther enquiry, it appeared only one of the effects of it; for fuch beafts as died very fuddenly of this di- feafe, when opened, had their intcftines found : fo that thefe puftules on their furface appear to have been only a fymptom of the difeafe in a very advanced ftage. All medicines were found vain in this difeafe; and fuch of the creatures as re- covered, had always puftules of this kind on their fkin, which ouzed out a bloody ichor.
From the whole it appear, that this difeafe was an acute fe- ver in thefe creatures, ot a malignant kind ; and that the texture of the blood was always broke in it; and that ita caufe was to be attributed to various falts taken in from the air, or in eating or drinking. Many bad called it a plague among the cattle, but ft appeared rather what we underHand by the name of a contagious peflilential fever, than an ab- folute plague ; and a peculiarly humid fe-fon, joined with exhalations of mineral fubftanccs out of the earth, for fome reafon which we cannot comprehend, more frequent than R r ufu<d
