MOCK ORANGE 



MCESIA 



243 



produce an incomparable medley. The mocking- 

 bird readily learns to whistle a tune, even of con- 

 siderable length, but there is no well-authenticated 

 instance of its imitating the human voice. The 

 barking of a dog, the mewing of a cat, the crowing 

 of a cock, the cackling of a hen, tlie creaking of a 

 wheel-barrow are all within the compass of its 

 powers. During its performances it spreads its 

 wings, expands its tail, and throws itself about, 

 as if full of enthusiasm and enjoyment. The 

 mocking-bird is vocal at all seasons of the year. 

 It enjoys almost everywhere the protection of man, 

 and often makes its nest in a tree or bush close 

 beside a house. The nest is rudely constructed 

 of dried slicks, withered leaves and grasses, and 

 lined internally with fibrous roots. The eggs are 

 of a short ovoid form, and of a light-green colour 

 spotted with amber. For the first brood from four 

 to six are laid ; for the second, four or five ; and 

 when there is a third brood, seldom more than 

 three. The first br<x>d is hatched about the middle 

 of April. The male is extremely attentive to his 

 mate, and manifests extraordinary courage in driv- 

 ing away enemies from the nest. Mocking-birds 

 often assemble on such occasions, and birds of 

 prey, far sui>erior to them in size and strength, 

 are compelled to retreat. Snakes are killed by 

 reiterated blown on the head, and cats learn to 

 consider the vicinity of a mocking-bird's nest un- 

 safe. The food of the mocking-bird consists chiefly 

 of berries and insects. The mocking-bird is easily 

 reared by the hand if removed early from the nest, 

 but it is s;iid that it never attains in captivity the 

 same wealth of song as in its free state. Another 

 species of mocking-bird is found in the Rocky 

 Mountains, and species of the same genus are 

 among the finest song-birds of the temperate parts 

 of South America. 



Mock Orange, a name applied in England to 

 the Syringa ( q.v. ), and in the United States to the 

 l'riniii.i riiroltniana, a small evergreen resembling 

 the cherry-laure.. 



Node, a name given to the ecclesiastical scales 

 formulated by St Ambrose and St Gregory (see 

 H.MIMONV, I'I.AIX-SONO). For Major ami Minor 

 Modes, M :-c AI.K. DORIAN and LYDIAN, HARMONY. 



Modelling. See CLAY, POTTERY, SCULPTURE. 



ModVna (anc. Alutina), capital of the former 

 duchy of Modena, staniis on a broad plain in 

 Northern Italy, 23 miles by rail N\V. of Bologna. 

 Pop. (1881)31,053; of commune (1893), 64,900. It 

 had extensive ramparts, long since converted into 

 promenades, and has line streets, many of them 

 invaded both sides. The ancient Via .Kniilia 

 divides it into the old and new city. The cathe- 

 dral of St Gciiiinianns, a Romanesque building, 

 was began, at the instance of the famous Countess 

 Matilda, in 1099, and has a fine facade ; its cam- 

 panile is one of the great towers of Italy. The 

 ilm-al (now royal) palace, a picturesque struc- 

 ture of the 17th century, has an infinity of 

 galleries, courts, and marble arches, and contains 

 the E.ste library of 90,000 volumes and 3000 MSS., 

 the Este archives, collections of coins, and the 

 gallery of pictures, including works by Guido, the 

 Carracci, Guercino, Correggio, and other great 

 Italian masters. Modena possesses besides a uni- 

 versity (1678), with 35 teachers and 287 students, 

 an academy of sciences and arts, an olwerva- 

 tory, a botanic garden, and military schools. The 

 chief manufactured products are silk, leather, 

 vinegar, and cast metals. There is a very lively 

 trade in agricultural products. Originally an 

 Etruscan town, Modena was conquered successively 

 by the Gauls and the Romans, and destroyed 

 by Cniis-tantine the Great, the Goths, and the 

 Longobards. Charlemagne made it the capital 



of a line of counts. The family of Este (q.v.) 

 became its masters in 1288 ; and in 1452 the reign- 

 ing marquis was created duke by the Emperor 

 Frederick III. During the first half of the 19th 

 century its dukes pursued a tyrannous reactive 

 policy against liberalism, and were on more than 

 one occasion expelled their dominions, finally and 

 definitively in 1860. The duchy was then incor- 

 porated in the kingdom of Italy, and afterwards 

 divided into the provinces of Mo'dena, Reggio, and 

 Massa- Carrara. Area of province, 994 sq. m. ; 

 pop. ( 1881 ) 279,254 ; ( 1896) 290,446. 



lloclioa. an inland town of Sicily, 45 miles SW. 

 of Syracuse, with trade in fruit, oil, wine, and grain. 

 Pop" 38,390. 



Modjeska* HELENA, Polish actress, was born 

 in Cracow, 12th October 1844, and began to act in a 

 travelling company in 1861. Four years later she 

 made a great name at Cracow, and from 1868 to 

 1876 was the first actress of Warsaw. Then she 

 settled, with her second husband, near Los Angeles, 

 California, to try farming ; but the enterprise not 

 succeeding, she returned to the stage, and won a 

 complete triumph as Adrienne Lecouvreur at San 

 Francisco in 1877, although she acted in English, 

 of which language she had known nothing seven 

 months before. She was acknowledged one of the 

 best of modern emotional actresses, achieving 

 triumphs, both in the United States and in Great 

 Britain, in Juliet, Rosalind, Beatrice, and in the 

 Dame aux Camtlias ; but ere long she returned to 

 farming and bee-keeping in California. 



Modoes. an Indian trite of Northern Cali- 

 fornia, which in 1872, after firing on the United 

 States forces, retreated to the neighbouring lava- 

 beds, and there defended themselves desperately 

 till June 1873, killing or wounding 132 of the 

 troops. Their chief, Captain Jack, and three 

 others were hanged in October; about a hundred 

 who had not followed him were permitted to 

 remain in California, the rest ( 145) were transferred 

 to Indian territory. 



Modulation, in Music. When in the course 

 of a melody the keynote is changed, and the 

 original scale altered by the introduction of a new 

 sharp or flat, such change is called modulation. 

 Much of the pleasure of music is derived from a 

 judicious use of modulation. The art of good 

 modulation from one key to another consists in 

 the proper choice of intermediate chords. Sudden 

 transitions, without intermediate chords, should be 

 employed but sparingly, and in peculiar circum- 

 stances. 



Moe, JORGEN (1815-82). See ASBJORNSEN. 



MOeil, a Danish island in the Baltic Sea, at the 

 south-east end of Zealand. It is 20 miles in length, 

 and has 13,000 inhabitants. 



Mu'Hs, LAKE, the ancient Greek name of a 

 sheet of water in Egypt, no\y in the province of 

 Fayyum (q.v.), about 50 miles SW. of Cairo; 

 extreme length from north-east to south-west, 35 

 miles. The waters are brackish. In the time of 

 the Pharaohs the revenue derived from the fisheries 

 was applied to the maintenance of the queen's 

 wardrobe and perfumes. 



Mocro, or MERU, LAKE, lies SW. of Tanga- 

 nyika in Central Africa, on 9 S. lat. and 29" E. 

 long., and is traversed by the Luapula (see 

 CONGO ). This lake was discovered by Livingstone 

 in 1868. Its shores yield salt. 



Mo'Sia. an ancient Roman province, divided 

 by the river Cibrus (Zibritza) into two parts, 

 the eastern corresponding to the present Bulgaria, 

 and the western (Ma-sia Superior) to Servia. 

 Its original inhabitants were mostly of Thracian 

 race. In 75 B.C. the Romans first came into 



