Page:LA2-NSRW-3-0255.jpg

in, has a slender body, long legs and a noticeably long tail; is gray above, the wings and tail brownish tipped with white, in flight the white conspicuous. Incessantly it changes its position, hopping and darting about, up, down and sidewise, often singing as it flashes hither and yon. It is one of our finest songsters, its song a combination of twittering, warbling and chirping; during moonlight nights, while nesting, it sings all night. Its natural song contains many notes similar to those of other birds, though its powers as an imitator have been exaggerated. Besides imitating the sweet tones of the wood-thrush, it whistles, makes sounds like a creaking wheelbarrow, the barking of a dog, the squeak of a hurt chicken. It usually resides where seen and has no fixed migrations. The nest, often built close to the ground, is a loosely constructed affair of leaves, feathers, grass. The speckled green eggs number four or six. Many nestlings are captured and sold as cage-birds. It is said the bird is fast disappearing in portions of the south. See Blanchan's Bird Neighbors; Hornaday's American Natural History; and Chapman's Bird Life. MOCKINGBIRD Modena (mṓ'dắ-nȧ), a city in northern Italy, capital of the province of the same name, 23 miles from Bologna. It is surrounded by walls, which have been made into fine walks. The square tower of the Gothic cathedral, begun in 1099, is one of the great towers of Italy. The palace, built in the 17th century, contains the Este library of 90,000 volumes and a large collection of the works of Guido, Correggio, the Caracci and other Italian masters, among them a reclining figure of Cleopatra by Canova. The university, one of the most famous in Italy, founded in 1678, has an academy of science and art, an observatory, a botanic garden and a military school. It has 45 teachers and 535 students. The trade of Modena is in farming products, and its manufactures are silk, leather, cast metals and vinegar. Modena was an Etruscan city, and was taken by the Gauls, Romans, Goths and Longobards. Constantine the Great destroyed it;

Charlemagne made it the capital of a line of counts; and the Este family ruled over it from 1288. The duchy became a part of the Italian kingdom in 1860. Population of the city 70,267. Modjeska (mŏd-jĕs'kȧ), Helena, a Polish actress, was born at Cracow, Austria, Oct. 12, 1844. From 1868 to 1876 she was the first actress of Warsaw, where she made the plays of Shakespeare popular. She tried farming in California, but, failing in her enterprise, returned to the stage in 1877 and won a complete success in San Francisco, though she acted in English, a language she had used for only seven months. She was acknowledged to be one of the best of modern actresses, especially as Juliet, Rosalind, Mary Stuart, Camille, Cleopatra and Adrienne Lecouvreur, in which characters she obtained her greatest reputation in the United States and in Great Britain. She died April 8, 1909. Modocs (mo'dŏks), a tribe of American Indians formerly living in northern California, near Lake Klamath. Their houses were pits, roofed with wooden slabs and covered with earth. They had several contests with the white settlers, and finally 41 out of 46 of their warriors were treacherously murdered in 1855 by the whites, when invited guests at a feast. This treachery they never forgot, and became bitter enemies. A part of the tribe, under a chief called Captain Jack, returned to their old home, but were ordered away by the United States troops. They repulsed the troops and retreated to what is known as the lava beds in the mountains, in the fall of 1872, where they defended themselves against repeated efforts to dislodge them until the summer of 1873. Their chiefs were executed, and the rest of band were carried to Indian Territory. Those who had not taken part in the war remained at the Klamath agency. Moff'at, Robert, a Scottish missionary, was born in East Lothian, Dec. 21, 1795. In 1816 he sailed for South Africa, under the London Missionary Society, and began his work in Great Namaland, in the country of a chief called Afrikaner, who had been a terror to all the region until he came under the influence of Christianity. Moffat opened mission stations, printed the Bible and other books in the native language, and made the whole region a center of Christian light. From 1838 to 1843 he was in England, publishing his Missionary Labors and telling crowds of hearers about his adventures and work. He returned with other missionaries, remaining until 1874, when after 54 years of missionary work he once more made England his home, where his labors were honored by a gift of $25,000 and a public reception in London. He died on Aug. 8, 1883. His influence led Livingstone (q. v.), whose wife was Mary, the daughter of Robert Moffat, to Africa, and Livingstone in turn won Stanley (q. v.) for Africa (1875-90).