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pika

(Encyclopedia)pika pīˈkə [key], short-haired mammal related to rabbits and hares, also called mouse hare and rock rabbit. Pikas live above the timber line in the mountains of N Asia and W North America. The pika...

kangaroo

(Encyclopedia)kangaroo, name for a variety of hopping marsupials, or pouched mammals, of the family Macropodidae, found in Australia, Tasmania, and New Guinea. The term is applied especially to the large kangaroos ...

dingo

(Encyclopedia)dingo dĭngˈgō [key], wild dog (Canis lupus dingo) of Australia, believed to have been introduced thousands of years ago from SE Asia by the aboriginal settlers of that continent; currently regarded...

crossbill

(Encyclopedia)crossbill, bird of the genus Loxia, in the finch family. Its bill, crossed at the tips, is specialized for pulling apart pine cones and picking out the seeds. Crossbills are found in the evergreen for...

decadents

(Encyclopedia)decadents, in literature, name loosely applied to those 19th-century, fin-de-siècle European authors who sought inspiration, both in their lives and in their writings, in aestheticism and in all the ...

harp seal

(Encyclopedia)harp seal, crested earless, or true, seal, Phoca groenlandica, found in the N Atlantic around Greenland and the White Sea. In the spring, harp seals migrate southward to assemble in large groups to br...

giant pouched rat

(Encyclopedia)giant pouched rat, terrestrial African rodent of the genus Cricetomys. Found in a wide variety of habitats, including farmland, in sub-Saharan Africa north of South Africa, giant pouched rats resemble...

Gascoigne, George

(Encyclopedia)Gascoigne, George găskoinˈ [key], c.1539–1577, English author, a pioneer in various fields of English literature. A reckless, dissipated youth, he left Cambridge without a degree to study law, but...

Arden, John

(Encyclopedia)Arden, John ärˈdən [key], 1930–2012, English playwright and novelist best known for his politically engaged work of the 1950s and 60s, a period during which he was considered one of Britain's maj...

Wylie, Elinor (Hoyt)

(Encyclopedia)Wylie, Elinor (Hoyt), 1885–1928, American poet and novelist, b. Somerville, N.J. She was famous during her life almost as much for her ethereal beauty and personality as for her melodious, sensuous ...