ovr 
ovi 
to the churchwardens or overseets, appeal 
to the next general or quarter sessions, 
where the same shall be heard, or finally 
determined ; but if reasonable notice be 
not given, then they shall adjourn the ap- 
peal to the next quarter sessions ; arid the 
court may award reasonable costs to eitlier 
party, as they may do by 8 and 9th William, 
in case of appeals concerning settlements. 
See Poor. By 43 Elizabetli, c. 2, § 2, they 
forfeit gOs. on neglecting to meet in the 
vestry one Sunday in the month ; and by 
13 and 14 Charles II. c. 4, forfeit bl. tor 
refusing relief to a person duly removed by 
warrant of two justices. By 9 George III. 
e. 37, § 7, they are to forfeit 10s. or 20s. for 
paying the poor in bad money. 
OVERT act In the case of treason, is 
compassing or imagining the death of the 
King, this imagining must be manifested by 
some open act ; otherwise being only an 
act of the, mind, it cannot fall under any ju- 
dicial cognizance. Bare words are held not 
to amount to an overt act, unless put into 
writing; in which case they are then held 
to be an overt act, as arguing a more deli- 
berate intention. N o evidence is to be ad- 
mitted of any overt act, that is not ex- 
pressly laid in the indictment, 7 Will. c. 3. 
OVIPAROUS, a term applied to such 
animals as bring forth their young, a6 ova, 
from eggs ; as birds, insects, &c. 
OVIS, the sheep, in natural history, a 
genus of mammalia of the order Pecora. 
Generic character : the horns hollow, wrin- 
kled, turning backwards and outwards into 
a spiral foi-m; lower front teeth eight; no 
canine teeth. There are nine species men- 
tioned by Shaw. TUe following are most 
wortliy of attention. 
O. ammon, or the Siberian sheep, or the 
argali. The argali, or wild sheep, is the pre- 
sumed origin of all the domestic sheep. 
It is found on the immense diain of moun- 
tains reaching through the middle of Asia 
to the Eastern Ocean. In Barbary, Cor- 
sica, Sardinia, Greece, and Kamtschalka, 
it is also to be met with, and in some of 
these places in great abundance. Its size is 
that of a fallow deer. In Siberia the argali is 
fond of ranging the highest elevations, and 
is generally seen in small flocks. As win- 
ter approaches, they move downwards into 
the plains, and instead of the shoots of the 
mountain plants which were before their 
food, eat grass and other vegetables. Tliey 
are extremely fond of salt, and will often 
remove the earth which covers this sub- 
stance, in considerable quantities, in order 
to obtain it. Their horns grow to a vast 
size and weight! Tliese animals are timid 
in a very great’ degree ; but the males will 
occasionally' engage in fierce conflicts with 
each other, and, it is said, endeavour to 
precipitate each other down the steeps of 
the mountains which they inhabit. Tliey 
move over these rugged eminences with 
great agility, and the chase of them is diffi- 
cult and fatiguing. They are supposed to 
live to the age of fourteen years. 
O. aries, or the common sheep. This 
animal, in its state of complete domestica- 
tion, appears equally stupid as it is harm- 
less, and seems nearly to justify the obser- 
vations of Buffon, who describes it as one 
of the most timid, imbecile, and contemp- 
tible of quadrupeds. When sheep, how- 
ever, have an extensive range of pasture, 
and are left in a considerable degree to de- 
pend upon themselves for food and protec- 
tion, they exhibit more respectability of 
character. A ram has been seen in these 
circumstances to attack and beat off a 
large and formidable dog, and even a bull 
has been felled by a stroke received be- 
tween his eyes, as he was lowering his 
head to receive his adversary on his horns 
and toss him into the air. When individual 
efforts are unequal to the danger, sheep will 
unite their exertions, placing the females 
and their young in the middle of an irregu- 
lar square, the rams will station themselves 
so as to present an armed front on every 
side to the enemy, and will support their 
ranks in the crisis of attack, harrassing the 
foe by the most formidable and sometimes 
fatal blows. Sheep display considerable 
sagacity in tlie selaction of their food, and 
in the approach of storms they perceive the 
indications with accurate precision, and 
retire for shelter always to the spot which 
is best able to afford it. The domestic 
sheep is scarcely ever found (excepting in 
temperate latitudes) in a state approaching 
to perfection. In hot regions its wool de- 
generates into a species of hair, and in ri- 
gid climates, though the wool is fine at the 
roots, it is coarse towards the surface. The 
flesh of the animal, when it passes to great 
degrees, whether of heat or cold, appears 
.also proportionally deteriorated. The wool 
of sheep in no country of the world attains 
greater excellence for the purposes of ma- 
nufacture, without the assistance of any 
mixture, than in England. That of the 
Spanish breed is finer, but too short for 
manufacture by itself, and comparatively 
trifling in weight. Since England att^ed 
