of the Emberizidae, a Passerine family not separated by most modern authors from the Fringillidae. 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 returns 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 where vineyards are unknown—reaching 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, 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 the 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 interpretations 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 show the hair-like markings so characteristic of those of most buntings. Its natural food consists of beetles, other insects and seeds. Ortolans are netted in great numbers, kept alive in an artificially lighted or darkened room, and fed with oats and millet. 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 artificially fattening birds of this species is very ancient. In French the word Ortolan is used so as to be almost synonymous with the English “bunting”—thus the Ortolan-de-neige is the snow-bunting (Plectrophanes nivalis), the Ortolan-de-riz is the rice-bird or “bobolink” 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 Chamaepelia.
In Europe the Beccafico (fig-eater) 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 Beccafico is said to be what is known in England as the garden-warbler (the Motacilla salicaria of Linnaeus, the Sylvia hortensis of modern 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 “beccafico,” however, is not as a rule artificially fattened, and on this account is preferred by some sensitive tastes to the Ortolan. (A. N.)
ORTON, JOB (1717–1783), English dissenting minister, was
born at Shrewsbury on the 4th of September 1717. He entered
the academy of Dr Philip Doddridge at Northampton (q.v.),
became minister of a congregation formed by a fusion of Presbyterians
and Independents at High Street Chapel, Shrewsbury
(1741), received Presbyterian ordination there (1745), resigned
in 1766 owing to ill-health, and lived in retirement at Kidderminster
until his death. He exerted great influence both among
dissenting ministers and among clergy of the established church.
He was deeply read in Puritan divinity, and adopted Sabellian
doctrines on the Trinity. Old-fashioned in most of his views,
he disliked the tendencies alike of the Methodists and other
revivalists and of the rationalizing dissenters, yet he had a
good word for Priestley and Theophilus Lindsey.
Among his numerous works are Letters to Dissenting Ministers (ed. by S. Palmer, 2 vols., 1806), and Practical Works (2 vols., with letters and memoir, 1842).
ORTONA A MARE, a small seaport and episcopal see of the
Abruzzi, Italy, in the province of Chieti, 12 m. direct E. of that
town and 105 m. by rail S.S.E. of Ancona. Pop. (1901) 8667
(town); 15,523 (commune). It is situated on a promontory
230 ft. above sea-level, and connected with the port below by
a wire-rope railway. From the ruined castle magnificent views
to the south as far as the Punta di Penna can be obtained.
The cathedral has been restored at various times, but preserves
a fine portal of 1312 by a local artist, Nicolo Mancini. At one
side of it is the Palazzo de Pirris with five pointed windows.
The town occupies the site of the ancient Ortona, a seaport of the Frentani; it lay on the Roman coast-road, which here turned inland to Anxanum (Lanciano), 10 m. to the S. The town suffered much from the ravages of the Turks, who laid it in ruins in 1566, and also from frequent earthquakes.
For discoveries in the neighbourhood see A. de Nino in Notizie degli Scavi (1888), 646. (T. As.)
ÖRTZEN, GEORG, BARON VON (1820–), German poet
and prose-writer, was born at Brunn in Mecklenburg-Schwerin.
He served as an officer of Prussian hussars (1850–1855), entered
the consular service and after employment at New York (1879)
and Constantinople (1880) was appointed to Marseilles (1881), and
then to Christiania (1889), retiring in 1892. He published
about thirty volumes, mostly of lyrics and aphorisms, including
Gedichte (3rd ed. 1861), Aus den Kämpfen des Lebens (1868),
Deutsche Träume, deutsche Siege (1876), Epigramme und Epiloge
in Prosa (1880), Es war ein Traum (1902). His Erlebnisse und
Studien in der Gegenwart (Leipzig, 1875) appeared under the
pseudonym Ludwig Robert, and Nacht (Stuttgart, 1899), a
collection of sonnets, under that of Stephen Ervésy.
ORURO, a department and town of Bolivia. The department is bounded N. by La Paz, E. by Cochabamba and Potosí, S. by Potosí, and W. by Chile; it forms a part of the ancient Titicaca lacustrine basin, and has an area of 19,127 sq. m., the greater part of which is semi-arid and covered with extensive saline deposits. It is bordered by Cordilleras on the E. and W., and by transverse ridges and detached groups of elevations on the N. and S. The slope and drainage is toward the S., but many of the streams are waterless in the dry season. The outlet of Lake Titicaca, the Desaguadero river, flows southward into Lake Pampa-Aullaguas, or Poöpo, on the eastern side of the department near the Cordillera de los Frailes. Lake Pöpo is 12,139 ft. above sea-level, or 506 ft. lower than Titicaca, and its waters discharge through a comparatively small outlet, called the Lacahahuíra, into the lagoon and saline morasses of Coipasa (12,057 ft. elevation) in the S.W. corner of the department. Oruro is almost exclusively a mining department, the country being too arid for agriculture, with the exception of a narrow strip in the foothills of the Cordillera de los Frailes, where a few cattle, mules and llamas, and a considerable number of sheep are reared. The mineral wealth has not been fully developed except in the vicinity of the capital, in the north-east part of the department, where there are large deposits of tin, silver and copper, Oruro being the second largest producer of tin in the republic. There are borax deposits in the western part of the department, but the output is small.
The capital of the department is Oruro, 115 m. S.S.E. (direct) of La Paz; it is an old mining town dating from the 17th century, when it is said to have had a population of 70,000. The census of 1900 gave it a population of 13,575, the greater part of whom are Indians. A considerable number of foreigners are interested in the neighbouring mines. The elevation of Oruro is 12,250 ft. above sea-level, and its climate is characterized by a short cool summer and a cold rainy winter, with severe frosts and occasional snow-storms. The mean annual temperature is about 43 F. Oruro is the Bolivian terminus of the Antofagasta railway (0·75 metre gauge), 574 m. long, the first constructed in Bolivia. A law of the 27th of November 1906 provided for the construction of other lines, of metre gauge, from La Paz (Viacha) to Oruro, from Oruro to Cochabamba, and from Oruro to Tupiza, making Oruro the most important railway centre in Bolivia. Oruro enjoys the nominal distinction of being one of the four capitals of the republic, an anomaly which was practically ended by the revolution of 1898, since which time the government has remained at La Paz.
ORVIETO (anc. Volsinii (q.v.), later Urbs Vetus, whence the modern name), a town and episcopal see of the province of Perugia, Italy, on the Paglia, 78 m. by rail N. by W. of Rome. Pop. (1901) 8820 (town); 18,208 (commune). It crowns an isolated rock, 1033 ft. above sea-level, 640 ft. above the plain,
