MOT 
Tlie women are not allowed to enter the 
mosque, but stay iu the porches without. 
About every mosque there are six high 
towers, called minarets, each of which has 
three little open galleries, one above ano- 
ther: these towers, as well as the mosques, 
are covered with lead, and adorned with 
gilding and other ornaments; and from 
thence, instead of a bell, the people are 
called to prayer by certain officers appoint- 
ed for that purpose. Most of the mosques 
have a kind of hospital belonging to them, 
in which travellers, of what religion soever, 
are entertained during three days. Each 
mosque has also a place called Tarbe, which 
is the burying-place of its founders ; within 
which is a tomb six or seven feet long, 
covered with green velvet or satin, at the 
end of which are two tapers, and round it 
several seats for those who read the koran, 
and pray for the souls of the deceased. 
MOSS. See Musci. 
MOTACILLA, the wagtail, and the 
warbler, in natural history, a genus of birds 
of the order Passeres. Though dilFering 
somewhat considerably in manners, these 
birds are ranked by Ginelin under one ge- 
nus. Generic character : bill subulate and 
strait ; mandibles nearly equal ; nostrils small 
and rather depressed ; tongue cloven. Gme- 
lin enumerates one hundred and ninety-four 
species, of which it will be sufficient to no- 
tice the few following. 
Of the wagtails it may be observed, that 
their movements are extremely alert, and 
that their tails are particularly long, and 
perpetually jerked up and down by them. 
Their progress is by running, rather than 
springing. They rarely perch on trees. 
Their flight is waving, and accompanied 
with a twittering sound; and their food 
consists of flies and other insects, in pursuit 
of which they will often follow the husband- 
man with his plough, and also the move- 
ments of flocks of sheep. 
M. alba, or the pied wagtail, is very com- 
mon in this country, frequenting the shallow 
borders of streams and lakes, in search of 
worms and insects, and often advancing 
into the water, so as to cause its feet to faci- 
litate its discoveries. Its note is totally un- 
interesting. It changes its situations in 
this island from the north to the south, as 
winter advances. It builds on the ground 
a warm and well-compacted nest, and the 
female continues her maternal attentions to 
her young, for several weeks after they are 
able to fly, protecting them with great in- 
MOT 
trepidity, and feeding them with incessant 
assiduity. See Aves, Plate X. fig. 4. 
The warblers are composed of a great 
variety of classes different in striking parti- 
cularities of habit as well as in size. They 
are found in almost all parts of the world, 
perch on trees, move by leaping, and rarely 
utter any sounds during their flight. They 
are more numerous than any genus of birds, 
and abound principally in the warm lati- 
tudes of the globe, where insects, their 
chief food, are found in never-failing sup- 
plies. 
M. luscinia, or the nightingale, is some- 
what larger than a hedge-sparrow', and, on 
the upper part of its body of a rusty-brown 
colour. It is common in several parts of 
this island ; but is seldom seen so far north 
as Yorkshire, or so much to the west as 
Cornwall, or even Devonshire. It arrives 
in April, and quits in August. The males 
arrive about a week before the females. 
Their winter residence appears to be unas- 
certained, and never takes place in Great 
Britain, France, Germany, Greece, or Ita- 
ly, and is generally supposed to be in Asia, 
in various parts of which they are found, 
and highly valued for their powers of me- 
lody. In Japan and in Aleppo this is said 
to be particularly the case. In the latter- 
place they are kept tame, and hired out to 
give vivacity and harmony to almost every 
festival and entertainment. In Persia the 
nightingale sings in great perfection, and 
Fryer, in his travels through that country, 
mentioning this bird, says “ this sweet har- 
binger of the light is a constant cheerer of 
the groves of Persia, charming, with its 
warbling strains, the heaviest soul into a 
pleasing ecstasy.” By another interesting 
writer, the nightingale is said to “ begin its 
song with a slow and timid voice; by de- 
grees the sound opens, and swelling, it 
bursts with loud and vivid flashes ; it flows 
with smooth volubility; it faints and mur- 
murs; it shakes with rapid and violent arti- 
culations. The soft breathings of love and 
joy are poured from tlie inmost soul, and 
every heart melts with delicious languor; 
pauses occasionally occur, to prevent satiety 
and give dignity and elevation ; tlie mild 
silence of evening heightens the general ef- 
fect, and no rival interrupts the happy and 
interesting scene.” 
Nightingales build iu low and close 
bushes, and sometimes breed three times in 
a yeai-. The female sustains the undivided 
fatigue of incubation, while the male, at a 
M in 2 
