OWEN SOUND, a city and port of entry in Ontario, Canada, and capital of Grey county, situated 99 m. N.W. of Toronto, on Georgian Bay. Pop. (1931) 12,839. It is the terminus of branches of the Canadian Pacific and Canadian National rail ways, and of the Canadian Pacific and other steamship lines plying to ports on Lakes Huron and Superior. Its harbour is one of the best on Lake Huron, and navigable by lake vessels of the largest size. It is a flourishing town, containing shipbuilding yards, and manufactories of mill machinery, agricultural imple ments, furniture and sewing-machines, flour-mills, saw-mills and large grain elevators.
OWL, the general name for the nocturnal birds of prey. The owls form a very natural assemblage, and this suborder, Striges, is not closely related to the hawks and eagles. Owls vary in length from 5in. in Glaucidium cobanense to more than 2ft. The plumage is very soft, rendering the flight noiseless. On each side of the base of the beak are several rows of small, curved, stiff-shafted feathers, which form a ruff to support the long feathers of the "disc" or space around the eyes. The ears are large, with well developed, and often asymmetrical folds of skin, so that the right and left ears may be differently shaped. Many species of owl show two phases of colouration—one in which the brown inclines to red, the other in which it inclines to grey. The outer toes of all owls are reversible. Unlike most birds, owls incubate from the laying of the first egg.
The type of the family Aluco nidae is the tawny owl (Strix aluca), found throughout Europe and in Asia Minor, Palestine and Barbary. A woodland bird, it feeds largely on rats, mice, voles, and shrews. Allied species are found in America, northern Europe and Asia. The remaining owls form the family Strigidae.
The eagle owl, Bubo ignavus, ranges over most of Europe and Asia north of the Himalayas. The allied B. virginianus extends over all North America. They are sombre-coloured birds and among the largest species. Equally large is the snowy owl (Nyctea scandiaca), a circum polar species with white plumage. In winter it migrates southward. The long- and short-eared owls (Asio otus and A. accipitrinus) are common to the northern parts
of Europe and America; the latter, often seen abroad in the day time, preferring open country, also extending into North Africa, all South America, and the Sand wich Islands. The long-eared owl keeps to woods. Both pos sess erectile tufts on the side of the head. Speotyto cunicularia of America lives in burrows, fre quently sharing those of the prairie dog and biscacha. The bird of Pallas Athene is Athene noctua, the little owl of Europe, which has been introduced into Great Britain, where it has spread rapidly of late. A. brama replaces it in India. The Ameri can screech-owl (Megascops asio), in its numerous varieties, is found practically throughout North America except at the far north. It varies much in colour and size. It can be distinguished from other owls at night by its peculiar screams, snarls and hisses. OWOSSO, a city of Shiawassee county, Michigan, U.S.A., 33 m. N.E. of Lansing, on the Shiawassee river. It is served by the Ann Arbor, the Grand Trunk and the Michigan Central rail ways, and by interurban trolley and motor-bus lines. The popula tion was 12,575 in 1920 (87% native white) and was 14,496 in 1930, an increase of 15.3%. It is division point on the Ann Arbor railroad, which has repair shops here employing 600 men, and the trade centre of a rich agricultural region, raising great quantities of sugar beet. Its manufacturing industries are many and impor tant, with products valued in 1927 at $10,926,162, and including sugar, flour, malleable iron, automobile bodies and furniture. The city was founded in 1833 and chartered in 1859.
OX, strictly speaking, the Saxon name for the males of domes ticated cattle (Bos taurus), but in a zoological sense employed so as to include not only the extinct wild ox of Europe but likewise bovine animals of every description, that is to say true oxen, bison and buffaloes. The characteristics of the sub-family Bovinae, or typical section of the family Bovidae, are given in the article Bovidae (q.v.); for the systematic position of that family see PECORA. For the typical oxen, as represented by the existing domesticated breeds see CATTLE.