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secretary bird

(Encyclopedia)secretary bird, common name for a long-legged African bird, Sagittarius serpentarius, related to the hawk and about 4 ft (122 cm) tall. Its crest of black feathers suggested the quill pens behind the ...

shore bird

(Encyclopedia)shore bird, common name for members of the large order Charadriiformes, which includes birds found on coasts and beaches throughout the world. Included in this group are the avocet, curlew, oyster cat...

rice bird

(Encyclopedia)rice bird: see bobolink.

Jackson, Shoeless Joe

(Encyclopedia)Jackson, Shoeless Joe (Joseph Jefferson Jackson), 1887–1951, American baseball player, b. Brandon Mills, S.C. Holder of the third highest (.356) career batting average in major league history, Jacks...

joe-pye weed

(Encyclopedia)joe-pye weed jō-pīˈ [key], name for a tall North American plant (Eupatorium purpureum) of the family Asteraceae (aster family), having small, usually pinkish-purple blossoms in large terminal clust...

Stern, David Joel

(Encyclopedia)Stern, David Joel, 1942–2020, American basketball executive, b. New York City. A lawyer, he worked (1966–78) as outside counsel to the National Basketball Association (NBA) before he became NBA ge...

Flynt, Larry Claxton, Jr.

(Encyclopedia) Flynt, Larry Claxton, Jr., 1942-2021, American magazine publisher, b. Lakeville, Ky. Flynt was the son of a sharecropper, and dropped out of school at...

dodo, extinct bird

(Encyclopedia)dodo, a flightless forest-dwelling bird of Mauritius, extinct since the late 17th cent. The dodo was closely related to the Rodrigues solitaire, extinct flightless giant found on another island in the...

Grinnell, George Bird

(Encyclopedia)Grinnell, George Bird grənĕlˈ [key], 1849–1938, American naturalist and student of Native American life, b. Brooklyn, N.Y., grad. Yale (B.A., 1870; Ph.D., 1880). He accompanied Custer's Black Hil...

Johnson, Lady Bird

(Encyclopedia)Johnson, Lady Bird, 1912–2007, b. Karnack, Tex., as Claudia Alta Taylor. She married (1934) Lyndon B. Johnson and played an active role in his political career. As first lady (1963–69), she was th...