Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 18.djvu/85

U U T 75 North America. Some of them have the legs as well as the bill yellow or orange ; and, in a few of them, both sexes alike display a uniformly glossy black. The only other species that need here be mentioned is the Ring-Ousel, Tunlus torquatus, which differs from the Blackbird in the dark colour of its bill, and in possessing a conspicuous white gorget whence its name. It has also very different habits, frequenting wild and open tracts of country, shun ning woods, groves, and plantations, and preferring the shelter of rocks to that of trees. Its distribution is accordingly much more local, and in most parts of England it is only known as a transitory migrant in spring and autumn from and to its hardly as yet ascertained winter quarters. It does not seem to have an extensive range to the eastward, though it has been recorded from Persia. The Water-Ousel, or Water-Crow, now commonly named the " Dipper," a term apparently invented and bestowed in the first edition of Bewick s British Birds (ii. pp. 16, 17), not, as is commonly supposed, from the bird s habit of entering the water in pursuit of its prey, but because " it may be seen perched on the top of a stone in the midst of the torrent, in a continual dipping motion, or short courtesy often repeated." This, the Cindus aquaticus of most ornithologists, is the type of a small but remarkable group of birds, the position of which many taxonomers have been at their wits end to determine. It would be useless here to recount the various suppositions that have been expressed ; suffice it to say that almost all ornitho logists are now agreed in regarding the genus Cindus x as Cindus mexicanus. differing so much from other birds that, though essentially one of the true Passeres (i.e., Oscines), it forms a distinct Family, Cindidx, which has no very near allies. That some of its peculiarities (for instance, the sternum in adult examples having the posterior margin generally entire, and the close covering of down that clothes the whole body a character fully recognized by Nitzsch) are correlated with its aquatic habit is probably not to be questioned; but this fact furnishes no argument for associating it, as has often been done, with the Thrushes (Turdidas), the Wrens (Troglodytidsi), or much less with other groups to which it has undoubtedly no affinity. The Dipper haunts rocky streams, into which it boldly enters, generally by deliber ately wading, and then by the strenuous combined action of its wings and feet makes its way along the bottom in quest of its living prey freshwater mollusks, and aquatic insects in their larval or mature condition. By the careless and ignorant it is accused of feeding on the spawn of fishes, and it has been on that account subjected to much perse cution. Innumerable examinations of the contents of its stomach have not only proved that the charge is baseless, but that the bird clears off many of the worst enemies of the precious product. Short and squat of stature, active and 1 Some writers have used for this genus the name Ilydrobata. restless in its movements, silky black above, with a pure white throat and upper part of the breast, to which succeeds a broad band of dark bay, it is a familiar figure to most fishermen on the streams it frequents, while the heerful song of the cock, often heard in the hardest frost, helps to make it a favourite with them in spite of the obloquy under which it labours. The Water-Ousel s nest is a very curious structure, outwardly resembling a Wren s, but built on a wholly different principle, an ordinary cup-shaped nest of grass lined with dead leaves, placed in some convenient niche, but encased with moss so as to form a large mass that covers it completely except only a small hole for the bird s passage. The eggs laid within are from four to six in number, and are of a pure white. These remarks refer to the Water-Ousel of central and western Europe, including the British Islands ; but, except as regards plumage, it is believed that they will apply to all the other species, about a dozen in number, which have been described. These inhabit suitable places throughout the whole Palaearctic Region as well as the southern slopes of the Himalaya and the hill-country of Formosa, besides the Rocky Mountains and a great part of the Ancles. Mr Salvin, in a very philosophical paper on the genus (Ibis, 1867, pp. 109-122), refers these species some of which are wholly black and one slate-coloured to five well-marked forms, of which the other members are either " representative species " or merely " local races " ; but all seem to occupy distinct geographical areas, that which is represented in the accompanying woodcut having a wide range along the mountainous parts of North America to Mexico ; and it is quite possible that their number may yet be increased, for the general habits of the birds preclude any invasion of territory, and thus produce practical isolation. (A. N.) OUSELEY, SIR WILLIAM (1769-1842), Orientalist, was the eldest son of Captain Ralph Ouseley, of an old Irish family, and was born in Monmouthshire in 1769. After a private education he went to Paris, in 1787, to perfect himself in French, and in the following year became cornet in the 8th regiment of dragoons. After obtaining the grade of lieutenant he, on the conclusion of the campaign of 1794, sold his commission in order to devote his attention to the study of Oriental literature, especially Persian. In 1795 he published Persian Mis cellanies; in 1797, Oriental Collections; in 1799, Epitome of the Ancient History of Persia; in 1801, Tales of Bakthyar and Observations on Some Medals and Gems ; and in 1804, The Oriental Geography of Ebn Haukal. He received the degree of LL.D. from the university of Dublin in 1797, and in 1800 he was knighted by the Marquis Cornwallis. On his brother, Sir Gore Ouseley, being appointed ambassador to Persia in 1810, Sir William accompanied him as secretary. He returned to England in 1813, and in 1819-23 published, in three volumes, Travels in Various Countries of the East, especially Persia, in 1810, 1811, and 1812. He also published editions of the Travels and Arabian Proverbs of Burckhardt. He was a member of various learned societies, and contributed a number of important papers to the Transactions of the Royal Society of Literature. He died at Boulogne in September 1842. OUTLAW, in English law, is a person put out of the protection of the law by process of outlawry. A woman is properly said to be waived rather than outlawed. Out lawry was usually the result of non-appearance of the de fendant or accused at the trial, and involved deprivation of all civil rights. It was finally abolished in civil pro ceedings in 1879 by 42 & 43 Viet. c. 59, 3. In criminal proceedings it has become practically obsolete, and the Criminal Code, 458, proposes to formally abolish it.