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ivory-billed woodpecker

(Encyclopedia)ivory-billed woodpecker, common name for the largest of the North American woodpeckers, Campephilus principalis. Once plentiful in Southern hardwood forests, it was believed to be extinct or nearing e...

Aosta, Valle d'

(Encyclopedia)Aosta, Valle d' väldäôˈstä [key], region, 1,260 sq mi (3,263 sq km), NW Italy, bordering on France in the west and on Switzerland in the north. Aosta is the capital o...

Virginia Beach

(Encyclopedia)Virginia Beach, resort city (1990 pop. 393,069), independent and in no county, SE Va., on the Atlantic coast; inc. 1906. In 1963, Princess Anne co. and the former small town of Virginia Beach were mer...

Rhineland-Palatinate

(Encyclopedia)Rhineland-Palatinate rīnˈlănd pəlătˈĭnĭtˌ [key], Ger. Rheinland-Pfalz, state (1994 pop. 3,926,000), 7,658 sq mi (19,834 sq km), W Germany. Mainz is the capital. The state was formed in 1946 b...

Northwich

(Encyclopedia)Northwich nôrthˈwĭch [key], town (1991 pop. 32,664), Cheshire West and Chester, W central England, at the confluence of the Weaver and Dane rivers. Northwich was once the center of England's salt p...

Page, Thomas Nelson

(Encyclopedia)Page, Thomas Nelson, 1853–1922, American author and diplomat, b. Hanover co., Va. His novels and stories are sentimental idealizations of the Old South. Among his novels are On Newfound River (1891)...

Avery Island

(Encyclopedia)Avery Island, salt dome, 163 ft (50 m) high and 2 mi (3.2 km) in diameter, S La., in an area of sea marshes and swamps. A corporation controlled by the Avery and McIlhenny families owns the island. Ho...

Oban

(Encyclopedia)Oban ōˈbən [key], town (1991 pop. 8,000), Argyll and Bute, W Scotland, on the Firth of Lorn. A port and seaside resort, its circular bay makes a fine yacht basin. Highland Games are held there each...

Arbuckle Mountains

(Encyclopedia)Arbuckle Mountains ärˈbŭkəl [key], range of low, rolling hills, rising c.700 ft (210 m) above the prairie, S Okla.; remnant of mountains formed in the Precambrian. Interesting geological formation...

Adam's Peak

(Encyclopedia)Adam's Peak, Sinhalese Sri Padastanaya and Samanaliya, mountain, 7,360 ft (2,243 m) high, S central Sri Lanka. It is a sacred mountain, famous as a goal of pilgrimage for Buddhists, Hindus, and Muslim...