641 



ORMSKIRK 



ORNITJIORHYNCHUS 



commonly MIPIHW.H! to have been instigated by 

 the profligate Iluke of Buckingham. Onnoadn 



inveterate foe. He escaped uninjured, and lived 

 until the year 1688. As a soldier lie exhibited buth 

 skill ami l>ravrrv in command ; and as a politician 

 he was singularly upright in a period when there 

 were many opportunities for the trimmer and the 

 charlatan. His letters and other iiapers are full 

 of deep historical interest. See Carte's Life of 

 Ormonde (1735-36). 



JAMES BOIUB. second Duke of Ormonde, was 

 the grandson of the foregoing. He ws born in 

 Dublin in 1665, and when ten years of age was sent 

 to France for his education, whence he returned 

 after a few years, and was entered at Christ Church, 

 Oxford. In 1682 he married Anne, daughter of 

 Lord Hyde, afterwards Earl of Rochester. As Earl 

 of Ossory he served in the army gainst Monmoiith, 

 fill also held an office in the iMilace under James 1 1. 

 After his accession to the dukedom by the death 

 of his onadfMber in 1688, he took his share in the 

 Revolution conflict, at first being for moderate 

 measures; but he must have seen the futility of 

 these, for afterwards, at the coronation of William 

 ami Mary, he acted as lord high-constable. He 

 was present at the battle of the Boyne, at the head 

 of \\ illiam's life-guards. He soon became popular. 

 In 1702 lie was placed in command in the expedi- 

 tion against Cadiz ; in 1703 he was appointed lord- 

 lieutenant of Ireland, and in 1711 commander-in- 

 chief of the land forces sent against France and 

 Spain. After the accession of George I. Ormonde 

 somehow fell into disgrace with thelcing, and was 

 impeached in 171") of high-treason, with the result 

 that his estates were attainted, and he was deprived 

 of all his honours. He retired into France, where 

 he attached himself to the Jacobite court, and 

 spent many yean in the secret intrigues of the Pre- 

 tender and his followers. He died abroad in 174U. 

 A collection of letters written by him in the 

 <>i_Miiisation of the aliortive attempt by Spain to 

 invade England and Scotland in 1719, and which 

 led to the affair of Glenshiel (q.v.), were in 1890 

 brought 10 light, in the following years prepared 

 for publication, and in 1896 issued by the Scottish 

 History Society. 



Ormskirk, a market-town of Lancashire, 12 

 miles NNK. of Liverpool. It has a grammar-school 

 ( 1612) ; a parish church, with embattled tower and 

 spire, and the burial-vault of the Earls of Derby ; 

 ami manufactures of cordage, iron, silk, cotton, &c. 

 Pop. ( 1851 ) 6183 ; ( 1881 ) 6651 ; ( 1891 ) 6298. 



Or imiliim, a Transition English metrical 

 translation of the gospel history. See ENCUSII 

 I.ITKI:\-| i 1:1.. Vol. IV. p. 307, and the editim of 

 theOrmuhini by White ami Holt (2d ed. 1878). 



OrmilZ. or HIIKMI-/, a small town on the island 

 of Jerun (12 miles in circuit), in the strait of Ornm/., 

 at the entrance of the Persian Gulf, 4 miles 8. 

 of the Persian coast. Three centuries tiefora the 

 Christian era there existed on the mainland, 12 

 miles east of the island, a city Onmiz ; this in the 

 13th century was the headquarters of the IVi-ian 

 trade with India. Hut alxmt the end of the cen- 

 tury its ruler transferred his people to the site of 

 the present town, to escape the Mongols. The 

 new city maintained its commercial supremacy 

 even after it pouted into the hands of the Portu- 

 guese, through Alhiniiierqne's capture of it in l.V7. 

 It was taken from tlie Portuguese in 1622 by an 

 English fleet ( Baffin, the Arctic navigator, hVing 

 killed in the action), and given to Shah Abbas of 

 Persia, who transferred the trade to his port of 

 Bandar A Urns. 12 mill's north-west on the main- 

 land. Tne Portuguese fort still stands, but the 

 town of Ormuz is a ruin. The island yields salt 

 and sulphur. 



Ormil/d (. \lnir.'.- Miial'n', i. the name of the 

 supreme deity of the ancient Persians, and of their 

 descendants the Cm-lues and Parsees. It was at 

 lii>t emphatically employed in this sense by Zara- 

 thustra. See ZOKOASTKK. 



Oriic. a department of France formed out of the 

 old provinces of Normandy, Alcncoii, and IVrehe, 

 is -eparated from the English Channel on the \V. 

 by La Manche and on the Y by Calvados. 

 Area. 2353 sq. m. ; pop. (1861) 433,850) (1S!H) 

 3.14,387. A range of wooded bills, nowhere rising 

 above 1370 feet, extends across the south oi the 

 department from east to west, separating the 

 streams that How north to the English Channel 

 from those that go south to tin- Seine nnd Loin-. 

 Although the soil is fertile, agriculture is not in 

 an advanced state. Apple and pear trees abound, 

 and more than 22,000,000 gallons of cider are made 

 everj- year. Cattle and horses of the purest Nor- 

 man breed are reared. There are cotton and hemp 

 spinning and cotton and linen weaving, dyeing, 

 bleaching, and manufactures of gloves, iron, 'glass, 

 &c. Fishing and In-e-keeping are carried on. The 

 department is divided into four arrondissements, 

 Ali-ncon, Argentan, Don) front, and Mortagne ; 

 capital, Alencon. 



Ornithology, that branch of zoology of which 



the subject is Birds (q.v. ). 



Ornithorliynrhus, or DUCKMOLE (also called 



Duck-billed Platypus, the ' vatci mole ' of colon- 

 ials), one of the lowest mammals, found in the 

 rivers of Australia and Tasmania. Along with 

 the Porcupine Ant-eater (Echidna, q.v. ) and a 

 neighbour genus, the duckmole is included in the 

 sub-class Protothcria or < Imithodelphia, co-exten 

 sive with the order Monotremala. These three 

 genera are of great interest as 'living fossils,' 

 retaining the ancient characters of primitive mam- 

 mals. 



The duckmole, represented by a single species 

 (Ornithorhynehus panuloxiw or anatinut), is a 

 flat animal, between a foot and 18 inches in length, 



Fig. 1. Ornithorhynchu* paradoxiu. 



not including the broad beaver-like tail, which 

 measures 4-6 inches. The thick, soft fur is dark- 

 brown almre, rusty yellow below. The very short 

 legs have wehlM.il digits in adaptation to the swim- 

 ming habits, and are also equipped with strong 

 claws, utilised in burrowing. The 'duckbill' is 

 due to the anterior expansion of the premaxillo? 

 and mandibles, is covered with a horny slu.'iih, 

 bears the nostrils far forward, and is iirovided with 

 curious tactile structures. Behind the 'bill' is a 

 lno-e. naked, sensitive collar. The eyes an- very 

 small, and there are no external cars. Within the 

 mouth inn- teeth are present only in the earliest 

 stages; their place is taken in the adults by eight 

 horny plates, -harp edged in front, broadened out 

 behind. The tongue is not extensile. In the 

 young of Nitli sexes a curious perforated spur, 

 associated with a gland, occurs near the heel, but 



