Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 18.djvu/63

 K T R V 53 phone Passeres in the Australian Region. Others con sidered it one of the nearest relatives of Menura, and if that view were correct it would add a third form to the small section of Pseudoscines (see LYRE-BIRD, vol. xv. p. 115); while Sundevall, in 1872, placed it not far from Timdia, among a group the proper sorting of which will probably for years tax the ingenuity of ornithologists. The late Mr W. A. Forbes shewed (Proc. Zool. ,$oc., 1882, p. 544) that this last position was the most correct, as Orthonyx spinicauda proved on dissection to be one of the true Oscines, but yet to stand, so far as is known, alone among birds of that group, or any other group of Passeres, in consequence of the superficial course taken by the (left) carotid artery, wkich is nowhere contained in the subver- tebral canal. Whether this discovery will require the segregation of the genus as the representative of a separate Family Orlhonycidx which has been proposed by Mr Salvin (CataL Coll. Strickland, p. 294) remains to be seen. Forbes also demonstrated that one at least of the two New-Zealand species above mentioned, 0. ochrocephala, had been wrongly referred to this genus, and they there fore at present stand as Clitonyx. This is a point of some little importance in its bearing on the relationship of the fauna of the two countries, for Orthonyx was supposed to be one of the few genera of Land-birds common to both. The typical species of Orthonyx for the scientific name has been adopted in English is rather larger than a Skylark, coloured above not unlike a Hedge-Sparrow. The wings are, however, barred with white, and the chin, throat, and breast are in the male pure white, but of a bright reddish-orange in the female. The remiges are very short, rounded, and much incurved, showing a bird of weak flight. The rectrices are very broad, the shafts stiff, and towards the tip divested of barbs. Two other species that seem rightly to belong to the genus have been described 0. spaldingi from Queensland, of much greater size than the type, and with a jet-black plumage, and 0. noviv-guinete, from the great island of that name, which seems closely to resemble 0. spinicauda. (A. N.) ORTOLAN (French, Ortolan), the Emberiza hortulana of Linnaeus, a bird so celebrated for the delicate flavour of its flesh as to have become proverbial. A native of most European countries the British Islands (in which it occurs but rarely) excepted as well as of western Asia, it emigrates in autumn presumably to the southward of the Mediterranean, though its winter quarters cannot be said to be accurately known, and return.s about the end of April or beginning of May. Its distribution throughout its breeding-range seems to be very local, and for this no reason can be assigned. It was long ago said in France, and apparently with truth, to prefer wine-growing districts ; but it certainly does not feed upon grapes, and is found equally in countries w r here vineyards are unknown reach ing in Scandinavia even beyond the arctic circle and then generally frequents corn-fields and their neighbourhood. In appearance and habits it much resembles its congener the YELLOW-HAMMER (q.v. but wants the bright colouring of that species, its head for instance being of a greenish- grey instead of a lively yellow. The somewhat monotonous song of tho cock is also much of the same kind ; and, where the bird is a familiar object to the country people, who usually, associate its arrival with the return of fair weather, they commonly apply various syllabic interpreta tions to its notes, just as our boys do to those of the Yellow-hammer. The nest is placed on or near the ground, but the eggs seldom shew the hair-like markings so characteristic of those of most Buntings. Ortolans are netted in great numbers, kept alive in an artificially lighted or darkened room, and fed with oats and other seeds. In a very short time they become enormously fat, and are then killed for the table. If, as is supposed, the Ortolan be the Miliaria of Varro, the practice of artifici ally fattening birds of this species is very ancient. In French the word Ortolan is used so as to be almost syn onymous with the English &quot; Bunting&quot; thus the Ortolan- de-neige is the Snow-Bunting (Plectrophanes nivalis), the Ortolan-de-riz is the Rice-bird or &quot; Bobolink &quot; of North America (Dolichonyx oryzivorus), so justly celebrated for its delicious flavour ; but the name is also applied to other birds much more distantly related, for the Ortolan of some of the Antilles, where French is spoken, is a little Ground- Dove of the genus Chamxpelia. In Europe the Eeccafico (Figeater) shares with the Ortolan the highest honours of the dish, and this may be a convenient place to point out that the former is a name of equally elastic signification. The true Eeccafico is said to be what is known in England as the Garden-Warbler (the Motacilla salicaria of Linnaeus, the Sylvia hortensi* of many writers); but in Italy any soft-billed small bird that can be snared or netted in its autumnal emigration passes under the name in the markets and cook-shops. The &quot;Beccafico,&quot; however, is not as a rule artificially fattened, and on this account is preferred by some sensi tive tastes to the Ortolan. (A. N.) ORVIETO, a town in Umbria, Italy, on the main road from Florence to Rome, situated on an almost isolated volcanic rock, about 770 feet above the plain. It is now the capital of a province, the seat of a bishop, and in 1881 had a population of 8626. The town is of Etruscan origin, and is said to have joined the Volscians in their war against Rome ; it is the Urbibentum of Procopius (with which the Herbanum of Pliny has been conjecturally identified), and the mediaeval Urbs Veins (whence the modern name). Owing to the strong Guelphic sympathies of the inhabitants, and the inaccessible nature of the site, Orvieto has been constantly used as a place of refuge by the popes, of whom no less than thirty-two have at different times found shelter there. The town is very picturesque, both from its magnificent position and also from the unusually large number of fine 13th-century houses and palaces which still exist in its streets. The chief glory of the place is its splendid cathedral, dedicated to the Virgin ; it was founded in 1290 by Nicholas IV. on the site of an older church ; it was designed by Lorenzo Maitani, a Sienese architect, and from the 13th till the 16th century was enriched by the labours of a whole succession of great Italian painters and sculptors (see ORCAGNA). The exterior is covered with black and white marble ; the interior is of grey limestone with bands of a dark basaltic stone. The plan consists of large rectangular nave, with semicircular recesses for altars, opening out of the aisles, north and south. There are two transeptal chapels, and a short choir. The most magnificent part of the exterior is the west facade, built of richly-sculptured marble, divided into three gables with intervening pinnacles, much resembling the front of Siena cathedral, the work of the same architect. The mosaics are modern, and the whole church has suffered greatly from recent &quot;restoration.&quot; The four wall-surfaces that flank the three western door ways are decorated with very beautiful sculpture in relief, once ornamented with colour, the work mainly of pupils of Niccolo Pisano, at the end of the 13th century. This at least is Vasari s statement. Giovanni Pisano, Arnolfo del Cambio, and Fra Guglielmo da Pisa were the chief of these. The subjects are scenes from the Old and New Testaments, and the Final Doom, with Heaven and Hell. In the interior on the north, the Cappella del Corporale possesses a large silver shrine, enriched with countless figures in relief and subjects in translucent coloured enamels one of the most important specimens of early silver-