Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

441 results found

vulture

(Encyclopedia)vulture, common name for large birds of prey of temperate and tropical regions. The Old World vultures (family Accipitridae) are allied to hawks and eagles; the more ancient American vultures and cond...

warbler

(Encyclopedia)warbler, name applied in the New World to members of the wood warbler family (Parulidae) and in the Old World to a large family (Sylviidae) of small, drab, active songsters, including the hedge sparro...

lemming

(Encyclopedia)lemming, name for several species of mouselike rodents related to the voles. All live in arctic or northern regions, inhabiting tundra or open meadows. They frequently nest in underground burrows, par...

marble

(Encyclopedia)marble, metamorphic rock composed wholly or in large part of calcite or dolomite crystals, the crystalline texture being the result of metamorphism of limestone by heat and pressure. The term marble i...

gnu

(Encyclopedia)gnu wĭlˈdəbēstˌ [key], large African antelope, genus Connochaetes. Its heavy head and humped shoulders resemble those of a buffalo, while the compact hindquarters are like those of a horse. The g...

Chandler, family of American real estate developers and publishers

(Encyclopedia)Chandler, family of American real estate developers and publishers. Harry Chandler, 1864–1944, b. Landaff, N.H., moved to Los Angeles and during the early 20th cent. was very largely responsible for...

performance art

(Encyclopedia)performance art, multimedia art form originating in the 1970s in which performance is the dominant mode of expression. Perfomance art may incorporate such elements as instrumental or electronic music,...

potato beetle

(Encyclopedia)potato beetle, name for two beetles of the leaf beetle family and for two of the blister beetle family, all destructive to the potato plant and its relatives. Most notorious is the Colorado potato bee...

beech

(Encyclopedia)CE5 American beech Fagus grandifolia beech, common name for the Fagaceae, a family of trees and shrubs mainly of temperate and subtropical regions in the Northern Hemisphere. The principal generaâ...

raccoon

(Encyclopedia)raccoon, nocturnal New World mammal of the genus Procyon. The common raccoon of North America, Procyon lotor, also called coon, is found from S Canada to South America, except in parts of the Rocky Mt...