MOT 
short distance only, enlivens her with his 
exquisite strains. Nightingales are never 
seen even in flocks of a very small imm- 
ber. They live chiefly on insects and ber- 
ries, on worms and the eggs of ants. They 
are caught without particular difficidty, 
havdng little cunning, though much timidity. 
Old ones cannot easily be induced to sing 
in confinement; yet if kept tranquil and 
nnirritated, will at length recur to song, and 
continue it through a great part of the year 
as fluently as those which have been reared 
from tlie nest. See Aves, Plate X. fig. 4. 
M. rubecula, or the redbreast, is found 
in almost every country of Europe, and, 
with respect to most, is supposed to be mi- 
gratory. These birds are never seen in 
flocks, not even previously to their migra- 
tion from any country, this being perform- 
ed by each bird singly. With respect to 
England, many are known to remain here 
during the whole year, and, indeed, in win- 
ter they are more seen than in the summer, 
when they have withdrawn to the woods to 
build their nests and rear their young. In 
order to keep the nest effectually conceal- 
ed, it is often covered with vegetable sub- 
stances, and a narrow entrance only is left 
to it, under a large collection of leaves. 
They subsist on insects and worms, which, 
however, they are observed never to de- 
vour alive, and often take great pains to 
kill before they will swallow them. Their ex- 
treme familiarity with mankind has attract- 
ed the attention of every age, and bestow- 
ed upon them a privileged exemption from 
that wanton destruction and mischief which 
are the fate of most of the aerial tribes. 
They will follow the movements of the hoe 
or spade in the garden, and in winter will 
enter the door or window of a habitation, 
and pick up the fragments that have fallen, 
as if conscious of security and welcome. 
The song of this bird, particularly <luring 
the incubation of the female, is highly ani- 
mated and melodious. 
M. hippolais, or the pettichaps, conceals 
itself in the thickest parts of bush-wood, 
and has mimitic powers of very consider- 
able and amusing extent, frequently begin- 
ning his varied career of song with the 
notes of tlie swallow, and after following it 
up with numerous interm-’^diate links, ter- 
minating with the rich an ‘idl song of the 
blackbird. Though frequently to be heard, 
it is very rarely seen. 
M. atricapilla, or the black-cap, is migra- 
tory in England, arriving in April, and witli- 
drawing in September. It feeds not only 
MOT 
on insects, but also on various berries, par* 
ticularly those of ivy. The male takes his 
share in the labours of incubation, and is 
highly assiduous also in procuring for the fe- 
male flies and insects during her term of 
confineinent. Its song is in a great degree 
similar to the nightingale's, and, when it is 
exercised in its best stile, for it is some- 
times regular and continued, and sometimes 
abrupt and transient, must be considered 
superior to that of any of the warblers, the 
nightingale alone excepted. 
M. regulus, or tlie golden-crested wren, is 
the smallest of European birds, when strip- 
ped of its feathers being not quite an inch 
long. Its food consists of small worms, se- 
veral sorts of seeds, insects and their eggs, 
which last they find plentifully in the fis- 
sures of the bark of trees, particularly the 
oak, to which they seem greatly attached. 
In a branch of this, or some other tree, it 
fixes its nest, suspending it by a sort of cord 
fonned of the same materials as the nest it- 
self. The regulus possesses great agility, 
moving in every direction with perfect ease 
and unwearied alertness. It bears every la- 
titude, from great heat to very rigorous 
cold, and is by some much admired for its 
melody. It remains in England the whole 
year. 
M. cenanthe, or the wheat-ear, visits 
England about the middle of March, and 
builds its nest under a clod, in lands which 
have been recently ploughed. It lives on 
worms and insects, and is a regular follower 
of the ploughman in his progress over the 
field. In some parts of England these birds 
are taken in vast numbers for the table, 
two thousand dozen having been taken in 
snares framed of horse hair, in one season 
and district only. They are sent to the 
markets of the metropolis, and sold at the 
rate of sixpence per dozen. By some they 
are considered as not inferior to the orto- 
lan. 
MOTHER of pearl is that beautiful na- 
tural white enamel, which forms the greater 
part of the substance of the oyster shell, 
particularly of the pearl oyster. See 
Shell. 
Mother water, in chemistry, is the un- 
crystallizable residue of a compound saline 
solution : thus the liquor left in a salt pan 
after the salt is taken out, is the motlier- 
water. 
MOTION is defined to be the continued 
and successive change of place. There are 
three general laws of motion. 1. That a 
body always perseveres in its state of rest. 
