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booby

(Encyclopedia)booby, common name for some members of the family Sulidae, large, streamlined sea birds. Tropical and subtropical members of the family are called boobies; those of northern waters are called gannets....

Byrd, Harry Flood

(Encyclopedia)Byrd, Harry Flood bûrd [key], 1887–1966, U.S. senator from Virginia (1933–65), b. Martinsburg, W.Va.; brother of Richard E. Byrd. Educated at Shenandoah Academy in Winchester, Va., he became publ...

jazz

(Encyclopedia)jazz, the most significant form of musical expression of African-American culture and arguably the most outstanding contribution the United States has made to the art of music. ...

sporting dog

(Encyclopedia)sporting dog, classification used by breeders and kennel clubs to designate dogs bred for pointing, flushing, and retrieving game. These dogs hunt by air scent—as opposed to most hounds, which are g...

Masefield, John

(Encyclopedia)Masefield, John mās– [key], 1878–1967, English poet. He went to sea as a youth and later spent several years in the United States. In 1897 he returned to England and was on the staff of the Manch...

honeyeater

(Encyclopedia)honeyeater or honeysucker, common name for arboreal birds comprising some 160 species of the family Meliphagidae, and found in Australia, New Zealand, and the SW Pacific. There is a single South Ameri...

heron

(Encyclopedia)heron hĕrˈən [key], common name for members of the family Ardeidae, large wading birds including the bittern and the egret, found in most temperate regions but most numerous in tropical and subtrop...

Angelou, Maya

(Encyclopedia)Angelou, Maya mīˈə ănˈjəlo͞o [key], 1928–2014, African-American writer and performer, b. St. Louis, Mo., as Marguerite Johnson. She toured Europe and Africa in the musical Porgy and Bess (195...

Darwin's finches

(Encyclopedia)Darwin's finches or Galapagos finches gəläˈpəgōsˌ [key], species of small perching birds, constituting the subfamily Geospizinae of the tanager family. Not related to the true finches, this grou...

Quebec campaign

(Encyclopedia)Quebec campaign, 1775–76, of the American Revolution. The Continental Congress decided to send an expedition to Canada to protect the northern frontier from British attack and to persuade Canada to ...