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parakeet

(Encyclopedia)parakeet or parrakeet, common name for a widespread group of small parrots, native to the Indo-Malayan region and popular as cage birds. Parakeets have long, pointed tails, unlike the chunky lovebirds...

Péguy, Charles

(Encyclopedia)Péguy, Charles shärl pāgēˈ [key], 1873–1914, French poet and writer. Of a poor, working family, he won scholarships and made a brilliant record as a student. He left the École normale supérie...

Cushing, Frank Hamilton

(Encyclopedia)Cushing, Frank Hamilton, 1857–1900, American ethnologist, b. North East, Pa. He published his first scientific paper at the age of 17, and at 18 joined the American ethnology bureau at the Smithsoni...

liverwort

(Encyclopedia)liverwort, any plant of the class Marchantiopsida. Mosses and liverworts together comprise the division Bryophyta, primitive green land plants (see moss; plant); some of the earliest land plants resem...

Brown, Margaret Wise

(Encyclopedia)Brown, Margaret Wise, 1910–52, American children's book author, b. Brooklyn, N.Y., B.A Hollins College, 1932. Continuing her education at the Bureau of Educational Experiments (now the Bank Street C...

trogon

(Encyclopedia)trogon trōˈgŏn [key], family of tropical jungle birds related to the roadrunners and including the quetzal. Trogons are sedentary arboreal birds, 10 to 14 in. (25.4–35.6 cm) long, with short roun...

sepal

(Encyclopedia)sepal, a modified leaf, part of the outermost of the four groups of flower parts. The sepals of a flower are collectively called the calyx and act as a protective covering of the inner flower parts in...

Ottawa, indigenous people of North America

(Encyclopedia)Ottawa ōdäˈwə [key], Native Americans whose language belongs to the Algonquian branch of the Algonquian-Wakashan linguistic stock (see Native American languages). Traditionally of the Eastern Wood...

Thompson, Daniel Pierce

(Encyclopedia)Thompson, Daniel Pierce, 1795–1868, American novelist, b. Charlestown, Mass. He wrote adventure novels, many of which deal with life in Vermont. His notable work is The Green Mountain Boys (1839). ...

Douglas, George

(Encyclopedia)Douglas, George, pseud. of George Douglas Brown, 1869–1902, English novelist, b. Scotland. His reputation rests on his single novel, The House with the Green Shutters (1901), a somber story of Scott...