Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 14.djvu/99

MOURNING BRIDE. 75 MOUSE. assumed name, finds Almeria at the Court of Granada, and the wedding is eventually accom- plished. The play is the source of the famous lines beginning, "Jlusic hath charms to soothe the savage liieast." MOURNING-CLOAK. A handsome butter- fly (Euvaticssa. or ^'anl^ss(l, aniiopa), known in England as Ihe Camberwell beauty. It appears THK MOUKNING-CLOAK. in the United States very early in the spring, and may not infrequently be seen flying about on warm days in winter. It hibernates in the adult stage even in cold climates. According to Scudder, it ranges from the Arctic Circle to the thirtieth parallel of latitude. It is purplish brown, with vings bordered by j'ellow, brown, and blue. The larv* are covered with black spines, and feed gregariously on willow, elm, poplar, and hackberry, often stripping the larger branches of leaves. The species is two-brooded and the second generation of moths appears in midsummer. MOURNING DOVE. The Carolina dove. See Dove. MOURZOUK, moor-zook'. A town of Africa. See ilrRzriv. MOUSCRON, moos'kron. A town of Belgium in the Province of West Flanders, situated near the French frontier. 32 miles southwest of Ghent. It is a customs station, and manufactures furni- ture and cotton and woolen goods. Population, in 1890, l.'J.TtU; in 1000, 10,.366. MOUSE (AS., OHG. muK, Gcr. Maus, Lat. m«.s, Gk. /iOs, miis, OChurch Slav, mysh'i, Skt. mum, mouse, from mus, to steal). The word mouse' was originally applied to a small rodent mammal, ilus miisculus, now called the house mouse, which 'as formerly confined to the Old World, but is now cosmopolitan in its distribu- tion. Gradually the use of the word has ex- tended to other small rodents, and especially in compounds to mammals not rodents, and even to birds. This troublesome little rodent is a small gray creature, with a liody about three inches long and a tail half that length, the ears rather large and very delicate, and small feet. The color shows considerable variation, in some eases having a strong brown cast, while in others it becomes very pale and even fades to white. In its habits the mouse is largely nocturnal, though often seen during the day. It makes its home in sheltered nooks and crannies, where a nest of rags, paper, feathers, etc.. is nicely made. Mice are very prolific, six to ten young being born at a time, and there are many broods during the year. JIuch has been written about the sing- ing powers of the mouse, and the fact that it does sing is sujiported by the evidence of per- V»L. XIV.— 0. fectly trustworthy witnesses. Mice are unques- tionably fond of music, but it is not fully deter- mined whether their ability to make it is normal or is an individual peculiarity. Some writers have gone so far as to assert that it is due only to a disea.scd throat. The name mouse is applied to any representa- tive of the genus Mus not big enough to call a rat. This genus is one iif the largest of mam- malian genera, including upward of 130 species, whifli vary consideral)ly in size, somewhat in color, and not a little in the softness of the pelage. The upper molar teeth are always wide, with three series of tubercles, and therefore called trituberculate: in this resjiect Mus difter.i from all of the native .merican 'rats' and 'mice.' Anollier characteristic of the geiuis is the long, slender, rounded tail, with wbnrls of scales, and few hairs; in some mice this is almost prehensile. IJesides the common mouse, the following may be menlioned as well-known European species of Mus: The wood mouse (Mus sylvaticus) , which is a triQe larger than its cosmopolitan cousin, and on account of its longer tail is sometimes called the 'long-tailed field-mouse;' it is abundant in Cireat Britain, and is noted for the large stores of grain which it hoards. The harvest mouse {Mils iniiiiitiix) is the smallest of British quadrupeds, the length exclusive of tail being only about ■2% inches; it occurs chiefly in the southern parts of England, and is notable for its curious globular nests, composed of grass leaves and panicles woven together and suspended be- tween stalks of grain or tall grass; a somewhat smaller species {Mus iiuniiliis) occurs in the south of Europe. Asia and Africa have many species, as the curious blaek-striped Barbary mouse, which looks like a miniature American ground-squirrel. In .merica the name mouse is applied to a large ninnber of small mammals, especially in such compounds as wood-mouse, field-mouse, etc. Some of these are very ditferent from the true mice, but nearly all belong to the family Muridae, though not to the Murina> with the Old World mice. Many of them are voles, of the sub- family ArvicolinsB, while others are vesper-mice or 'white-footed' mice of the subfamily Cricetinfe, to which the hamsters also belong. A typical American example of this latter group is the well-known and widely distributed white-foot<'d mouse or 'deer-mouse' {Peromi/scus leucopus), which is found, in some one of many local races, nearly throughout North America. It is about seven inches long, of which nearly one-half is the tail. The upper surface is fawn-color of some shade, while the imder parts and the feet are snowy white. The ears are rather large, and the general form and a])pearance delicate and graceful. It is found in all sorts of situations and even lives in houses sometimes, like the common mouse. In the Central and Southern States, another species even handsomer than this occurs, known as the golden mouse {Peronitfsrus aureolus). It is golden cinnamon above and yel- lowish-white beneath. The largest and in some respects the most remarkable of this group is the rice-field mouse lOri/zoiiiifs pulusfris) . which is ten or eleven inches long, dark grizzly rat-color, and has very harsh pelage. It is said to be more like the true mice than any other American species. The curious little harvest-mouse (Ochetodon humilis) of the Southern States is