MOBILE RIVER 



3869 



MOCKING BIRD 



himself to be lashed to the mast of his ship 

 during the conflict that he might the better 

 watch the battle and give more effective com- 

 mands. This engagement was fought on August 

 5, 1864, between the United States squadron 

 under Farragut, and a Confederate fleet which 

 had been inflicting great damage on Federal 

 commerce. The entrance to Mobile Bay was 

 protected by forts Morgan and Gaines, and the 

 Gulf Channel, except a narrow passage under 

 Fort Morgan's guns, was closed by piles and 

 torpedoes. Fighting began at seven o'clock on 

 the morning of August 5 ; Farragut, guiding his 

 fleet through the lines of Confederate batteries 

 and burning rafts, finally reached the harbor, 

 where the ironclad Tennessee and three gun- 

 boats were lying in readiness for an attack. He 

 ordered the course of his vessels directly across 

 the torpedoes, sank one Confederate gunboat 

 and drove another aground. The Tennessee at- 

 tacked the entire Federal fleet, but was soon 

 completely disabled and hauled down its flag 

 in surrender. Forts Gaines and Morgan capitu- 

 lated on August 7 and 23, respectively. Farra- 

 gut accomplished this feat with the loss of only 

 one vessel, the Tecumseh, and while he did not 

 capture Mobile, he cut off all of its communica- 

 tion with the sea. 



MOBILE RIVER, a river of Alabama, im- 

 portant for its situation in the center of the 

 great cotton region. The river was named from 

 the Mobile, or Maubila, Indians, now an extinct 

 tribe. It is formed by the Alabama and Tom- 

 bigbee rivers, which unite in Clarke County, 

 and after a six-mile course it divides into two 

 branches, the Mobile and the Tensas. The river 

 is navigable for large steamers, and is an im- 

 portant means for inland transportation for cot- 

 ton and agricultural products to the sea. The 

 city of Mobile has an advantageous position for 

 trade, for it is the outlet of one of the greatest 

 cotton regions in the United States. 



MOCCASIN, mok'asin, FLOWER, or PINK 

 LADY'S SLIPPER, a fragrant wild flower of 

 the orchid family, one of the loveliest blossoms 

 of American woodlands in the flowering months 

 of May and June. It belongs to a subdivision 

 of the orchids known as lady's slipper (which 

 see). Its large, showy blossom bears an in- 

 flated sac or lip, which gives it a curious resem- 

 blance to a slipper, or moccasin, and its popu- 

 lar names have been thereby derived. The 

 moccasin flower is distributed from Canada 

 southward to North Carolina and westward to 

 Kentucky and Minnesota; the latter state has 

 chosen it to be its state flower. Once it grew 



MOCCASIN FLOWER 



in profusion, but the exquisite pink blossoms 

 proved so tempting to the wayfarer it is now 

 one of the rarest of the wild flowers. The in- 

 flated lip of this plant is a wonderful device of 

 nature to help in 

 the work of cross- 

 fertilizati on 

 (which see). 

 Through a fissure 

 down the front 

 the bumblebee 

 pushes its way in- 

 side to feast on 

 the rich stores of 

 nectar, and in its 

 escape it leaves 

 behind a supply 

 of pollen and car- 

 ries away on its 

 back another load, which will be deposited 

 within the flower next visited. See BOTANY, 

 subhead Why Plants N.eed Insects. 



MOCCASIN SNAKE, a vicious, poisonous 

 serpent of the pit viper family, related to the 

 copperhead (which see). By some authorities 

 its poison is considered more dangerous than 

 that of the rattlesnake. It is sometimes called 

 the cotton mouth, as its mouth, when wide 

 open, shows white in contrast to the general 

 color of the body, which is dark brown. On its 

 sides are dim, blackish bars, and its black abdo- 

 men is marked with spots of yellowish-white. 

 Its body is four feet in length, and its tail, 

 which is entirely without rattles, is about seven 

 inches long. This reptile is found in large num- 

 bers in the swamps and marshy regions from 

 southern Indiana and southeastern Virginia to 

 the Rio Grande. It subsists chiefly on fishes 

 and frogs, which it pursues with the greatest 

 speed in the water. Eight or ten young are 

 produced annually. The moccasin in captivity 

 becomes tame, good-natured and sluggish; it is 

 fed small rabbits, rats, birds, fishes and frogs. 



MOCK 'ING BIRD, an American songster fa- 

 mous the world over for the melodious quality 

 of its singing notes and its marvelous ability 

 to imitate the sounds of other birds. One bird 

 naturalist, L. M. Loomis, records that he heard 

 a mocking bird of South Carolina .imitate the 

 notes of thirty-two different species of birds 

 during a period of ten minutes. Some mock- 

 ing birds, however, are quite lacking in this 

 power of imitation. The lovely music fur- 

 nished by this national song bird of the United 

 States is beautifully described by Longfellow in 

 the following lines from Evangeline: 



