242 



MOBILIEIl 



MOCKING-BIRD 



a floating dry-dock and several shipyards, foundries, 

 cotton ami cottonseed-oil mills, a tannery. 11 inanu- 

 factory of chewing-gum, luminous cigar-factom-. 

 >V'. before tlie war tin- chief business was the 

 export of cotton ; but since then this trade baa 

 MII link aliniMit to one-tliird of iU former pro|>or- 

 tions, while the ex|M>rt of timltcr lias increased. 

 Mol.il. WHS settled I iy tin- French in ITiKi, and was 

 a Spanish town until 1813, and its po]iulittion still 

 shows traces of this Latin origin. In 1879 the 

 city limit* were curtailed somewhat. Pop. (1870) 

 3-2,034 ; (1890) 31,076 ; ( 1900) 38,469. 



MoMlltT. CKKIJIT. On the 18th Novemlier 

 1852 the French government sanctioned the 

 statutes of a new bank under the name of the 

 Societt GtufraJe de Crrilit Mnhitier. The name 

 was intended as a contrast to the Socittts de I'n./,! 

 Fonder (wee CRtolT KosciER), which are of the 

 nature of land hanks, and advance money on the 

 security of real or imiiuxttble property ; while the 

 Credit Mobilier proposed to give ximilar aid to the 

 owners of movable property. The declared object 

 of this bank is especially to promote indusiiial 

 enterprises of all kinds, such as the construction of 

 railways, sinking of mines, &c. Various privileges 

 were conferred upon it under its charter; in especial, 

 it was allowed to acquire shares in public com- 

 panies, and to pay the calls made u)>on it in respect 

 of such shares, by ite own obligations (or bonds) ; 

 also to sell or give in security all shares thus 

 acquired. The operations of the society were con- 

 ducted upon a very extensive scale. In 18T>4 it 

 subscribed largely ' to the government loan on 

 account of the Russian war, to the Grand Central 

 Railway Company, to the General Omnital Com- 

 pany of Paris, and to various other important 

 undertakings. The dividend for this year was 12 

 percent. Fn 1855 it lent two sums to the govern- 

 ment the one of 250 and the other of 375 millions 

 of francs. Its o|>erations were vast during this 

 year, and the dividends declared amounted to 41) 

 per cent. The directors had not hitherto availed 

 themselves of their privilege of issuing their own 

 obligations, but this they now resolved on doing. 

 They proposed to issue two kinds the one at short 

 dates, the other at long dates, and redeemable by 

 instalments. The proposed issue w;is to amount 

 to 240 millions of francs, but the public became 

 alarmed at the prospect of so va-i an issue of 

 lioncls, so that, in March 1850, the French govern- 

 ment deemed it necessary to prohibit the carrying 

 out of the projiosed scheme. This was a se\eie 

 blow to the institution. In 1856 its dividends <liil 

 not exceed 22 |>er cent. ; in 1857 they were only 

 5 per cent. Several attempts had been made to 

 resuscitate ite credit, but failed. On I'.'th Novem 

 lier 1871 it was reorganised, the assets of the lir-t 

 society being re]>rted at 4S million francs. In 

 1878 the capital was reduced from 80 millions to 

 32, ami in 1879 raised again to 40 million-. 

 Another reduction of capital was made in 1884 

 '30 million francs. On the model of the Credit 

 Mobilier, companies were organised in Kngland, 

 Holland, America, and elsewhere. The Credit 

 Mobilier, Limited, was established in London 

 on 29th March 1864. It amalgamated on 30th 

 Septemlier of the same year with the Credit 

 Foncier as the Credit ponder and Mobilier 

 of England, Limited: and on the reorganisa- 

 tion of that company in 1866 the words ' mid 

 Mobilie.r' were dropped. The Credit Mobilier has 

 undoubtedly been useful, but its operations have 

 been hazardous, public advantages lieing gained at 

 the expense of private lone*. 



Mobilisation, a word for the act of making 

 an army n-.idy for taking the field. The pio.. -- 

 consists in bringing the various units to war 



strength by calling in reserve men, in organising 

 the staff of brigades, divisions, and army n.i|-. 

 constituting the commissariat, medical, and trans- 

 port services, and in accumulating provisions and 

 munitions. As the work of mobilising an army 

 causes great and inevitable expense, it in only 

 resorted to when hostilities appear imminent. 



!Mor<*nsill, tlie slioe of tin' North American 

 Indian, made all of soft hide, and often ornamented. 

 The Moccasin Snake (Tojcimfi/us jiisrirorta) of 

 North America is a brown coloured poisonous 

 swamp snake ; the skin is marked with black bars. 



tlorlia. a seaport, and once the capital of 

 Yemen in Arabia, is situated on the Ited Sea, 

 130 miles WNW. of Aden. From early in the 

 16th century until the middle of the 17th Mocha 

 was the port from which the coffee of Yemen \\.-ts 

 principally exported ; hence called Mocha coffee. 

 it is now a decayed place. Pop. 5000. 



Morllil Stones are pieces of agate or of 

 chalcedon y , containing dendritic infiltrations, often 

 assuming appearances very like finely ramilied run- 

 ferv:e, \'c. They were first brought to Europe from 

 Mi >clia- Of the "same nature witli Mocha stones are 

 Moss Agates. 



MorkinK-bird, or MIK-KINC-THHI-SH (Hfimtu), 

 a genus of birds of the family Turiiiihe, order Pas- 

 seres, having a more elongated form than the tine 

 thrushes, a longer tail, shorter wings, and the 



Mocking-bird (Mimui polyylottut). 



upper mandible more curved at the tip. Twenty 

 s|iecies arc known, ranging from Canada to Pata- 

 gonia, and from the \\Yst Indies to the Galapagos 

 Islands. Tin' liest-known species, the mocking, 

 bird of the I'nited States i ,!/. f,<,h/<//i,ttii.\), is 

 about the size of the song-thrush ; the upper parts 

 of a dark brownish ash colour, the win"* and tail 

 nearly black, the under part.- brownish white. The 

 mocking bird is common in almost all parts of 

 America, from the south of New Knghmd to 

 Pna/il ; north of the Delaware it is only a sum- 

 mer visitant, but in more southern regions it is 

 found at all seasons. It is one of the most common 

 birds of the West Indies, ami its exquisite song 

 tills the groves with melody by night, for which 

 ii it is there very generally known at* the 

 nightingale. l!y day the mocking'hird is generally 

 imitative, excelling all birds in its power of imita- 

 tion, now taking up the song of one bird, and now 

 of another, and often deceiving the most practised 

 ear by it* perfect performance. 1!\ night its son;.- 

 is for the most part natural. It docs not conlinc 

 itself, however, to musical strains : it si-ems to take 

 equal pleasure in re|>eating the harshest cries of 

 the feathered (lilic-. and in domestication readily 

 adds to its accomplishments the imitation of almost 

 any sound which it is accustomed to hear, passing 

 from one to another with great rapidity, so as U 



