Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 03.djvu/81

* BIG-ENDIANS. BIGLOW PAPERS. BIG-ENDIANS, The. The name of the sect in (jiillucr's Traucls under which Swift satii'ized the Catholics, so called because the Big-endians dogmatically asserted that au egg must be broken at the larger end. They were opposed to the l.ittle-endians, the Piotcstants, who were equally .stout in their contention that eggs must be broken only at the smaller end. BIGGLES WADE. A parish and market town of Bedfordshire. England, on the river Ivel, about 10 miles southeast of Bedford (Map: England. F 4 ) . It has manufactures of straw, wire, and late. Population, about 5000. BIG HATCHIE, hachl. A small river of the United States, rising in northeast Mississip- pi, one head branch in Prentiss County, but the larger one in Union County (ilap: Mississippi. HI). It flows through a fertile cotton region north into Tennessee, and then northwest, join- ing the Mississippi River 5 miles above Ran- dolph, and nearly 40 miles above Memphis. It is nearly 200 miles long, drains an area estimated at 4000 square miles, and is navigable for small steamboats for about 100 miles to Bolivar. Tenn. BIG'HEAD' ( OsTEOPORO.sis ) . A bone disease in which the bones become more massive and less compact by reason of an increase in the cancel- late tissue. The disease aft'ects horses and mules of all breeds and ages. The enlargement of the liead is the most conspicuous symptom ; hence the name. A peculiar lameness precedes or ac- companies other symptoms. The animal takes short steps. The ribs undergo certain changes so that a round-barreled horse becomes flat-sided. Recovery from the disease is rare. BIG HORN. A river of the Rocky Mountain region of the United States, rising in the Wind River range in Fremont County. Wyoming, near the central part of that .State (Map: Wyoming, E 3). It flows northward into Montana, and following thence a northeasterly course it emp- ties into the Yellowstone River, of which it is the chief tributary. Its principal headstream is the Wind River, which rises in the Shoshone Mountains in Wyoming, southeast of the Yellow- stone National Park. Its source is between 8000 and 9000 feet above sea-level. The principal tribu- taries of the Big Horn are the Grey Bull and Stinking Water rivers in Wyoming and the Little Big Horn River in Montana. Its total length is about 4.50 miles and it is navigable up to its juncture with the Little Big Horn at Fort Cus- ter. The famous Custer massacre took place in the valley of the latter in 187(5. The Big Horn drains an area estimated at over 20.000 square miles. The scenery along the river's course is magnificent. BIG'HORN'. The popular name in the X'nited States of the Rocky Mountain sheep, on account of their immense, semi-spiral, argali-like horns. These sheep, in one or other of their species, were formerly to be found throughout the whole Rocky Mountain system from Xew Mexico to the Arctic Circle: and they are still numerous from Montana northward and only less so southward, in the higher ranges. They are gregarious, fond of the highest pastures. ■wary, and nmch hunted not merely for sport, but because the flesh is excellent and the horns make handsome trophies. "To many American sportsmen and natural- ists," remarks William T. Hornaday {Fifth An- nual Report A'eio York Zoological Society), "there is no other wild animal on this continent which challenges admiration equal to that be- stowed upon the mountain sheep. Unfortunately, it is only those who have made the acquain- tance of this animal in life, and upon its own ground, who have a fair conception of . . . the true character of this hardy mountaineer, in whose anatomy strength is combined with agility to an extent which is nothing short of marvelous. Its home is the loftiest rim-rock of the high mountain plateaus, or the most rugged and for- bidding Badlands of the middle altitudes. In summer its favorite pastures are the treeless slopes above timber-line, and in winter it paws tluough the snow of the motmtain meadows to reach the tallest spears of grass. . . . All the year round this animal is both well-fed and well- dad, and its savory flesh invites constant pur- suit and attack from the mountain lion and hunters both white and red. Unlike its dull- witted neighbor, the mountain goat, the moun- tain sheep is wide-eyed and wary, and difficult to approach." The best known species is the common bighorn (Oris ccrviiia), which is very stoutly built, stands about 40 inches high at the shoulder, is grayish-brown, with the face ashy, a dark line along the spine, and the imder parts and eon- sincuous 'caudal disk' on the buttocks whitish. The horns of the ram are massive, thick and keeled on the outer edge, springing backward and then downward in a majestic sweep, and measuring 42 inches in largest specimens around the curve : those of the ewe are short and rilibed. It dwells in bands sometimes containing fifty or more of all ages throughout all the high moun- tains from the Dakota Badlands to Arizona, California, and northern British Columbia. A smaller and paler variety, inhabiting the central basin, is called Xelson's bighorn. A second species is .Stone's bighorn, lately found in north- ern British Columbia, which is larger, and has comparatively slender, pale-brown outward-ctirv- ing horns ; its general color is a blackish-brown grizzle, with the spinal stripe, throat, chest, sides, buttocks, and tail and hoofs almost black. Another species belongs to the mountains of Central -Maska. north of 60°, named Oris Dalli, which is altogether white, in winter perfectly free from the few brownish hairs that may ap- pear in its summer coat. The horns are of mod- erate size, and of a clear amber color. . fourth species, also Alaskan, has been described as Ovis Faiinini. and resembles Dall's sheep, except that the body is brownish-gray, leaving the head, neck, breast, belly, and rump white. See Plate of Wild .'^IIF.EP, ETC. Consult : Mayer (editor) .S'port icithGnn and Hod (Xew York, 1883) : Roosevelt, Uuntinri Trips of a Ratwhman (ib., 1883) ; Baillie-Grohman, Vamps ill thr Koclciex (London, 1882) ; Fifteen Years^ iSport and Life in Western America (ib., 1900). BIG JAW. See Actinomycosis. BIG LATJ'REL. See ilAG.voLlA. BIGT.OW, HosE.. See Lowell, James RlSSKI.I. BIGLOW PAPERS, TnE. The title of a series oi satiriial poems in the Yankee dialect by .Tames Russell Lowell. They appeared in two parts. Part I., Aoicing the New England opjio- sition to the Mexican War, was brought out in