at 



479 



on the top of the head are numerous small 

 brown spots ; the upper part of the back is 

 marked with transverse lines of dusky brown ; 

 a few dusky spots are on the covert-feathers 

 of the wings ; but withinside they are purely 

 white ; and the lower part of the back is 

 spotless : the middle feathers of the tail have 

 a few spots on each side the shafts of the 

 feathers : the legs and feet are covered with 

 white feathers ; and the claws are long, 

 strong, black, and sharp pointed. The 

 Snowy Owl, it is supposed, used to breed on 

 some of the Shetland Islands, but is now a 

 very rare visitor to any part of the British 

 Islands. 



The BURROWING OWL. (A thene cunicula- 

 ria.) This singular species is widely spread 

 through the American continent, and is pe- 

 culiar to it. It inhabits the burrows of the 

 marmot, viscacha, and other small rodent 

 animals ; and when these do not present 

 themselves, it makes excavations for itself. 

 This is a small bird, its length not exceeding 

 ten inches. 



OX : OXEN. The general designation for 

 the different species and varieties of the 

 ruminant quadrupeds belonging to the genus 

 Bos ; generically distinguished by having 

 smooth hollow horns, directed sideways, and 

 their curving upwards or forwards in a 

 semilunar form ; body thick and heavy ; 

 tail long, terminated by a tuft of hair ; and 

 four inguinal mamma. The male of this 

 genus is called a BULL ; the female, a Cow ; 

 and the young, a CALF, The name of Ox is 

 given to the castrated male, and he is called 

 an Ox-calf or Bull-calf until he is a twelve- 

 month old ; a Steer until he is four years 

 old, and after that an Ox or Bullock. 



Truly does Mr. Bell, in his ' History of 

 British Quadrupeds,' say, "Of all the ani- 

 mals which have been reduced into the im- 

 mediate service of man, the Ox is without 

 exception that to which he is most indebted 

 for the variety and extent of its means of 

 usefulness. If the qualities of the Dog are 

 of a higher and more intellectual character, 

 and bring it into closer communication with 

 man as a social being ; and if the Horse, as 

 a beast of burden and of draught, serve more 

 to his immediate personal assistance ; the 

 Ox surpasses these and all others in the 

 devotion of its powers while living, and the 

 appropriation of every part of the body 

 when dead, to the wants, the comforts, and 

 the luxuries of his owner." " This universal 

 utility of the animal," he adds, " appears to 

 have been very soon detected, and we find 

 consequently that its domestication consti- 

 tuted one of the earliest triumphs of human 

 authority over the natural instincts and 

 habits of the brute creation. That this event 

 took place before the Flood, and induced 

 even then that propensity to a pastoral life 

 which has ever been characteristic of man 

 in his less cultivated state, wherever the cli- 

 mate was such as to encourage or permit it, 

 we have the Sacred Writings to attest ; for 

 we are told that Jubal, the son of Lamech, 

 was the father or ancestor ' of such as live 

 in tents, and of such as have cattle.' From 

 the time when the family of Noah issued 



from the Ark, in every quarter of the earth 

 which his varied and multitudinous descend- 

 ants have cultivated, the Ox has been reared 

 as the most useful and important aid to the 

 necessities of mankind. In Egypt it was 

 the object of worship ; and after the Israel- 

 ites had left that seat of idolatry, when they 

 themselves were disposed to lapse into that 

 high and rebellious offence against the Ma- 

 jesty of Heaven, it was in the form of a golden 

 calf that they modelled the object of their 

 absurd and impious rites." 



It has been the general opinion that the 

 domestic races of our cattle are originally 

 sprung from the .Bos bubalus, the Indian and 

 European Buffalo ; but some treat of them 

 as arising from the aurochs or wild cattle of 

 Germany and Poland. Baron Cuvier, how- 

 ever, differs from both these suppositions, 

 and considers our present cattle identical 

 with a species no longer existing in a wild 

 state, but which has, by the exertions of 

 man, as in the instance of the camel and 

 dromedary, been for ages entirely subjected 

 to his power. The remains of this animal 

 have been found in a fossil state, and it is 

 upon the comparison of these remains with 

 the skeleton of the aurochs, the buffalo, and 

 our domestic races, that Cuvier founded his 

 opinion. 



The COMMOX Ox (Bos taurus) has a flat 

 forehead, longer than it is broad, and round 

 horns placed at the two extremities of a pro- 

 jecting line which separates the front from 

 the occiput : the horns, however, differ so 

 much in their form and direction in the 

 numerous varieties which domestication has 

 produced in this species, that no specific 

 character can be based upon them. The 

 colours of these animals are extremely va- 

 riable, being reddish, white, gray, brown, 

 black, &c. From what species the present 

 useful and valuable domesticated breeds owe 

 their origin, it would be very difficult to de- 

 termine ; but it is certain that their utility 

 was well known to mankind in the very in- 

 fancy of society, and that they still form the 

 basis of the wealth of many countries, where 

 the people subsist and flourish in proportion 

 to the cultivation of their lands and the 

 number of their cattle. Throughout a great 

 part of the world, the flesh of the Ox is the 

 principal article of animal food ; while from 

 the milk of the Cow, of itself an almost in- 

 dispensable part of our diet, are manufac- 

 tured cheese and butter. There is, indeed, 

 scarcely any part of this animal that is not 

 useful to mankind : the skin, the horns, the 

 bones, the blood, the hair, nay, the very 

 refuse of all these, each and all have their 

 separate uses. Though at the present day, 

 in this country, the Ox is less used for the 

 purposes of agricultural labour than it was 

 formerly, in many parts of the world the 

 practice still remains ; and wherever it pre- 

 vails to any extent, its excellence is uni- 

 versally felt and acknowledged. The period 

 of gestation of the Cow is nine months ; and 

 the young, like that of the horse, is very 

 perfect and vigorous soon after birth, though 

 it needs the care of the mother for a con- 

 siderable time. It attains its full vigour in 



