Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XII.djvu/759

 OYEN BIRD the tail up and down ; it is a very poor walk- er ; when wounded it plunges under water and escapes to the shore, struggling to the last when taken. The note is a gentle warble, short and lively, but not resembling the full song of the proper thrushes. It begins to make a nest about the middle of spring, of moss and leaves, on the bank of a stream, among the roots of a tree overhanging the water, in the crevice of a rock, or in a hole in a bridge, dam, or wall ; it is of large size, arched over, and compactly built ; the eggs are five or six, pure white, somewhat smaller than those of the song thrush. This genus is considered inter- mediate between the ant thrushes and thrush- es proper ; its short and dense plumage, short wings and tail, and bill, are admirably adapted for making its way under water, and seizing and detaching its food from submerged stones. According to Macgillivray, the genus forms a connecting link between the slender-billed land birds and the diving water birds, as the king- fisher seems to unite the former with the plun- ging birds of the same order. The name of ring ouzel is given to the European thrush (turdus torquatus, Linn.) from its having a broad white crescent across the black of the breast; and the blackbird (T. merula, Linn.) is often also called ouzel in Great Britain. OVEN BIRD, the popular name of a group of tenuirostral birds of the subfamily furnarince and the family of creepers, inhabiting the warm parts of South America and the West Indies. In the typical genus furnarius (Vieill.) the bill is moderate, slender, and slightly curv- ed ; wings and tail moderate, and tarsi long. The red oven bird (F. rufus, Vieill.), called hornero in La Plata, is about 6 in. long, reddish above and white below ; it is seen generally in pairs, both in bushy and open places and near human habitations, running rapidly or making short flights from bush to bush in search of insects, especially coleoptera ; it will also eat seeds ; the note is loud and shrill. The nest is OVERBECK 745 Eed Oven Bird (Furnarius rufus). placed in an exposed situation on a tree, paling, window sill, or even in the interior of a house ; both sexes work at it, alternately bringing a lump of clay or piece of straw and twig, which they fashion into a dome-shaped structure like a baker's oven, 6 or 8 in. in diameter and with walls about an inch thick ; the opening is on the side, and near it is a partition reaching nearly to the roof, behind which is an inner chamber in which the eggs, four or five, are deposited on feathers and soft grass. The genus cinclodes (Gray) frequents the sea beach, and may often be seen walking on the mass- es of floating seaweed near the shore ; some occasionally wander inland, and even to the height of 8,000 ft. on the Cordilleras; their food consists of insects, small crustaceans and mollusks, and seeds. The golden-crowned thrush of North America (seiurus aurocapil- lus, Swains.) is also called oven bird from the shape of its nest. OVERBECK. I. Friedrich, a German painter, born in Liibeck, July 3, 1789, died in Rome, Nov. 12, 1869. He commenced his artistic education in Vienna in 1806, and in 1810 re- paired to Rome, where he became convinced that a return to the truth and simplicity of the early Italian masters was necessary. A Madonna painted in 1811 first brought him into notice in Rome, and was followed by the frescoes of "Joseph sold into Captivity by his Brethren" and the "Seven Years of Famine," in the villa of the Prussian consul Bartholdy. He gradually restricted himself to works of an exclusively devotional character, which he strove to imbue with religio-mystic feeling. In 1814, in company with several of his asso- ciates, he abjured Lutheranism and embraced the Roman Catholic faith. His life was after- ward passed almost entirely in Rome. At first he was surrounded by a band of enthusi- astic disciples, but by degrees his followers be- came fewer. He however continued to labor in his chosen style with unabated zeal until his death. Of Overbeck's works in fresco, the most remarkable are a series of five rep- resenting subjects from Tasso's Gerusalemme liberata, executed in 1817 in the villa Massimi in Rome, and the " Vision of St. Francis " painted for the church of the Madonna degli Angioli near Assisi, the latter of which is con- sidered a remarkable exposition of the prin- ciples of Christian art as understood by him. The picture which first gave him a European reputation was the "Entry of Christ into Jerusalem," completed in 1824 for the Marien- kirche in Ltibeck, and which is well known by engravings. Other works by him of a Scriptu- ral character are " Christ bearing the Cross," " The Child Christ in the Temple," " Christ blessing Little Children" (also well known through engravings), "The Raising of Laza- rus," " Christ raising the Daughter of Jairus," " Christ on the Mount of Olives," " St. John preaching in the Wilderness," "Moses and the Daughter of Jethro at the Well," " Gathering the Manna," " Hagar in the Desert," and "The Ascent of Elijah." His numerous "Holy Families " and Pietas, " Marriage of the Vir- gin," "Virgin with the Lily," "Three Kings,"