Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 17.djvu/13

M O T M O T the Dutch Republic, a History (London and New York, 3 vols. 8vo). This work, which, after a large historical introduction, minutely follows the history of the Low Coun tries from the abdication of Charles in 1555 down to the assassination of William the Silent in 1584, immediately became highly popular by its graphic manner and the warm and sympathetic spirit in which it was written, while at the same time it was frankly recognized by scholars as a painstaking and conscientious piece of original work. It speedily passed through many English editions, was trans lated into French (with an introduction by Guizot) in 1859, and also into Dutch (with introduction and notes by Bakhuizen van den Brink, himself a distinguished historian), as well as into German and Russian. Pursuing his researches in England, France, Belgium, and Holland, Motley was able to publish in 1860 the first two volumes of the History of tJie United Netherlands, covering the period from the death of William the Silent in 1584 to shortly after the destruction of the Armada, by which the Spanish project for subjugating England and reconquering the Netherlands was finally defeated. This work, which was on a somewhat larger scale than the preceding, em bodied the results of a still greater amount of original research, not only in the Dutch archives, in the copies of the Simancas archives, and in the portions of those archives still retained in Paris, but also in the London State Paper Office, and in the MS. department of the British Museum. By two new volumes published in 1868 the work was brought down to the twelve years truce in 1609, and it was announced that the author was engaged in writing a con tinuation which should embrace the history of the Thirty Years War. Meanwhile Motley from the close of 1861 to 1867 had held the post of United States minister at Vienna; in 1869 he was appointed to a similar position at the court of St James s, but was recalled in 1870. After a short visit to Holland he again took up his resi dence in England, where The Life and Death of John Barneveld, Advocate of Holland, with a view of the primary Causes of the Thirty Years War (2 vols.) appeared in 1874. Ill health now began to interfere with sustained literary work, and, after a protracted period of failing vigour, he died at Kingston Russell House, near Dorchester, Dorset shire, on 29th May 1877. Motley was member of a number of learned societies in Europe and America, and held a variety of honorary degrees. Among minor works not noticed above may be mentioned a pamphlet on the Causes of the Civil War in America (1861), which originally appeared in the correspondence columns of the Times newspaper, and Democracy, a Historical Essay (1869), originally delivered as an address to the New York Historical Society. The merits of Motley as an historian are undeniably great ; he has told the story of a stirring period in the history of the world with full attention to the character of the actors and strict fidelity to the numerous vivid details of the action. But it may safely be said that his tale is best where most unvarnished, and probably no writer of the same rank has owed less to the mere sparkle of highly polished literary style. See John Lothrop Motif y, a Memoir, by Oliver Wendell Holmes (1S78). MOTMOT, according to Hernandez in his Historia Avium Novae, Hispanise, (p. 52), published at Rome in 1651, was the Mexican name of a bird which he described well enough to leave no doubt as to what he meant ; but the word being soon after printed Momot by Nieremberg and others gave rise to the Latinized Momotus, invented by Brisson as a generic term, which has since been generally adopted by ornithologists, 1 though Motmot has been re tained as the English form. Linnaeus knew of only one species of Motmot, and referred it to his genus Ramphastos (properly Rhamphastus) under the name of R. momota. This is the Momotus brasiliensis of modern ornithologists, 1 Its barbarous origin induced Tlliger to substitute for it the word Prionites, and his example has been followed by some nomenclatural purists. and from its geographical range cannot be the original Motmot of Hernandez, but is most likely the " Guira guai- numbi " of Marcgrave. The Motmots have been for many years recognized as forming a distinct family, Momotidse or Prionitidse, of the heterogeneous assemblage known as Picarise. or Coccygo- morphse ; and the only question among systematists has been as to their position in that group. This has been discussed and illustrated with his usual assiduity by Dr Murie (Ibis, 1872, pp. 383-412, pis. xiii.-xv.), who con clusively showed that the TODY (q.v.) was the Motmot s nearest existing relative, while he believed that both Momotidse and Todidse. might be placed in one section (Serratirostres) with the Coraciidx (ROLLER, q.v.), Mero- pidse, and Alcedinidx (cf. KINGFISHER, vol. xiv. p. 81). To the latter allocation Garrod (Proc. Zool. Society, 1878, pp. 100-102) has since partly demurred, though admitting the Kingfisher affinity, while upholding the former, and even declaring that Motmots and Todies form but a single family. As the conclusions of both these investigators are based on the sure ground of anatomical structure, they are of incomparably greater value than most of those arrived at by prior systematists who judged from external characters alone. In outward appearance the Motmots have an undoubted resemblance to Bee-eatere, but, though beautiful birds, various shades of blue and green predominating in their plumage, they do not exhibit such decided and brilliant colours ; and, while the Bee-eaters are only found in the Old World, the Motmots are a purely Neotropical form, extending from southern Mexico to Paraguay, and the majority of species inhabit Central America. They are said to be solitary birds, or at most living in pairs, among the gloomy forests, where they sit on the underwood nearly motionless, or only jerking their long tail as the cry " houtou " (or something like it) is uttered. Their ordi nary food is small reptiles, insects, and fruits. The nest of one species, as observed by Mr Robert Owen, is at the end of a hole bored in the bank of a watercourse, and the eggs are pure white and glossy (Ibis, 1861, p. 65). Little else has been recorded of their ways. The Momotidse, form but a small group, containing, according to the latest enumeration of them in 1873 by Messrs Sclater and Salvin (Nomenclator, pp. 102, 103), but seventeen species, 2 distributed into six genera, of which last, however, Dr Murie (I.e.) would only recognize four Momotus, Baryphthengus, Hylomanes, and Eumomota the second including Urospatha, and the last Priono- rhynckus. The distinctions between these groups would require more space to indicate than can here be allowed ; but it may be stated that, while all have a general resem blance in the serrated edges of the bill and many other characters, Momotus has the normal number of twelve rectrices, while the rest have only ten, which in Hylomanes have the ordinary configuration, but in adult examples of all the others the shaft of the median pair is devoid of barbs for the space of about an inch a little above the extremity, so as to produce a spatulate appearance, such as is afforded by certain humming-birds known as " Racquet- tails" (HUMMING-BIRD, vol. xii. p. 357), Kingfishers of the genus Tangsiptera (KINGFISHER, vol. xiv. p. 82), and Parrots of the group Prioniturus. Waterton ( Wanderings, Journey 2, chap, iii.), mentioning the species M. brasiliensis by its native name " Houtou," long ago assarted that this peculiarity was produced by the Motmot itself nibbling off the barbs, and this extraordinary statement, though for 2 The same number was recognized by the first -named of these gentlemen in his review of the Family (Froc. Zool. Society, 1857, pp. 248-260), where they are all diagnosed, a species, subsequently described by Dr Cabanis (Mils. Heineanum, ii. p. llo), not being admitted.