of which there are some 20 species. 

 The name is derived from the oven- 

 like nest constructed by some of 

 the species. In the U.S.A. the 

 golden - crowned water - thrush, 

 Seiurus aurocapillus, a kind of 

 wood-warbler, is called oven bird 

 for a similar reason. 



Over. District of Cheshire, 

 England, part of the urban dist. 

 of Winsford. It stands on the 

 Weaver, 4 m. from Middlewich, 

 with a station, Winsford and Over, 

 on the Cheshire Lanes Rly. It is a 

 centre of the salt industry, and 

 has sheep and cattle fairs. S. 

 Chad's is a 16th century church. 

 Another Over is in Cambridgeshire. 

 Overalls. Name applied to gar- 

 ments put on over other clothes for 

 their protection from dirt or wet. 

 Familiar examples are the dun- 

 garees worn by engineers and the 

 oilskins of seamen. The trousers 

 worn by cavalrymen of the British 

 army are called overalls, having at 

 one time been made loose enough 

 to pull over the boots and furnished 

 with leather bottoms to the legs 

 Later the overalls became an orna- 

 mental part of the uniform. See 

 Army, British ; Uniform. 



Overbury, SIB THOMAS (1581- 

 1613). English poet and essayist. 

 Born at Compton Scorpion, War- 

 wick, and edu- 

 cated at Oxford 

 and the Middle 

 Temple, his 

 works include 

 the poem A 

 Wife, Charac- 

 ters or Witty 

 Descriptions of 

 * h e Properties 

 of Sundry Per- 

 s o n s, and 

 Crumms Fal'n from King James's 

 Table, which were edited by E. F. 

 Rimbault, 1856. He was an asso- 

 ciate of Robert Carr (later earl of 

 Somerset), for opposing whose 

 marriage with the countess of 

 Essex he was imprisoned and 

 poisoned, Sept. 15, 1613. See 

 Somerset, Earl of. 



Overijssel. Prov. of the 

 Netherlands. With an area of 

 1,295 sq. m., it adjoins the provs. 

 of Friesland, Drenthe, and Gelder- 

 land, its W. frontier being that of 

 Germany, its E. being the Zuyder 

 Zee. It consists mostly of flat 

 marshy country, with moors, fens, 

 and woods. Sheep and cattle are 

 reared and dairy produce is im- 

 portant. The Yssel, Vecht, and 

 Regge are the chief rivers. Zwolle 

 is the capital. Pop. 433,000. 



Overland Route. Popular 

 term for the quickest way between 

 Great Britain and India. It runs 

 overland through Paris, Lyons, the 

 Mt. Cenis Tunnel, Modena, and 



Sir T. Overbury, 



English poet 

 After y. whittock 



59O4 



Brindisi ; thence by steamer to 

 Port Said, and through the Suez 

 Canal and Red Sea to Bombay. 

 The average time taken is 20 days. 



Overload. In electrical engi- 

 neering, the amount of load or 

 work imposed on an engine or 

 motor over and above that which 

 it was designed to carry or to 

 perform economically. The effect 

 of an overload on an electric motor 

 is to reduce speed, lessen the 

 counter electromotive force, and, by 

 permitting an undue quantity of 

 current to pass through the coils of 

 the armature, to overheat them and 

 possibly destroy their insulation. 



Overlying. Suffocation of an 

 infant by pressure against the 

 mother or other person while in 

 bed. The infant mortality from 

 this cause has greatly declined of 

 late years. In 1913 the number of 

 deaths of children under one year 

 of age who were suffocated while in 

 bed in England and Wales was 

 1,180 ; in 1919 the number was 

 467. While this decrease may be 

 partly explained by more frequent 

 recognition of disease as the cause 

 of death, it is also partly attribut- 

 able to greater care taken of child- 

 ren, especially in the direction of 

 providing them with separate cots. 

 See Children ; Infant Mortality. 



Overmantel. In modern usage, 

 a piece of cabinet work. It often 

 comprises a mirror with side 

 shelves for ornaments, placed or 

 fitted above a fireplace. It was a 

 Victorian imitation of the Jaco- 

 bean panelled mantelpiece. See 

 Chimneypiece. 



Overreach, SIR GILES. Charac- 

 ter in Massinger's play, A New 

 Way to Pay Old Debts, 1625-26. 

 An upstart, envious of the caste 

 from which his birth excludes him, 

 he seeks to marry his daughter 

 Margaret to a nobleman and so 

 triumph over those whom he has 

 ruined financially, but who still re- 

 buff him. Overreached by his in- 

 tended victims, he loses his reason. 

 His prototype has been found in 

 Sir Giles Mompesson (1584-1651). 



Overseas Club and Patriotic 

 League. Non-party society of 

 British subjects residing in all 

 parts of the world. 

 Largely organized by 

 Evelyn Wrench and an 

 offspring of The Over- 

 seas Daily Mail, it was 

 Overseas founded Aug. 27, 1910 ; 



bailee amalgamated March 31, 

 1918, with the Patriotic 

 League of Britons Overseas, a 

 society founded in Aug., 1914; and 

 associated in Aug., 1919, with the 

 League of the Empire, which was 

 started in 1901. Viscount North- 

 cliffe was the first president. Its 

 chief objects are to draw together 



OVERSEER 



in a bond of comradeship and 

 mutual help Britons all over the 

 world. It has about 1,000 hon- 

 orary corresponding secretaries. 

 The London headquarters were at 

 General Buildings, Aldwych, W.C., 

 until 1922, when they were trans- 

 ferred to Vernon House, Park Place, 

 St. James's. When in 1921 the 

 membership had reached 26,000, 

 a charter of incorporation was 

 applied for. 



Overseas Daily Mail. Weekly 

 issue of The Daily Mail. It is issued 

 every Friday for dispatch to the 

 outlying parts of the British em- 

 pire, and contains a summary of the 

 news of the week. It was founded 

 Nov. 26, 1904. See Daily Mail. 



Overseas Daily Mirror. 

 Weekly edition of The Daily Mirror. 

 Founded March 9, 1913, it is pub- 

 lished every Thursday for dispatch 

 overseas. See Daily Mirror. 



Oversea Settlement Office. 

 Department of the British Colonial 

 office. It was established hi Jan., 

 1919, and constituted in accord- 

 ance with the recommendations 

 made by the Dominions Royal 

 Commission and the Empire Set- 

 tlement Committee. Its function is 

 to superintend the emigration of 

 British subjects to the dominions 

 and foreign countries, thus super- 

 seding the Emigrants' Informa- 

 tion Office established in 1886. 

 Address 59, Victoria Street, Lon- 

 don, S.W. See Emigration. 



Overseas Trade, DEPARTMENT 

 OF. In the United Kingdom, a 

 joint sub-department of the Foreign 

 Office and Board of Trade. It is 

 represented in Parliament by a 

 parliamentary secretary, who oc- 

 pies the dual position of additional 

 under-secretary for foreign affairs 

 and additional parliamentary sec- 

 retary to the Board of Trade. The 

 office is at 35, Old Queen Street, 

 London, S.W., and there is a 

 branch at 73, Basinghall Street, 

 E.G., while there is a foreign sam- 

 ples showroom and foreign cata- 

 logues library at 7-11, Old Bailey. 

 See Foreign Office; Trade, Board of. 



Overseer. Generally, one who 

 oversees or inspects. The term 

 is specifically applied to the un- 

 paid officials appointed each year 

 in every parish in England and 

 Wales to make provision for the 

 poor of the parish. The office was 

 instituted in 1601. Overseers are 

 appointed from a list of house- 

 holders resident in the parish. 

 Their duties include the making 

 and levying of poor-rates upon 

 the inhabitants of the parish, and 

 the preparation of valuation, 

 voters', and jury lists. Assistant 

 overseers are paid officials em- 

 ployed to relieve the overseers. 

 See Guardian ; Poor Laws. 



