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Archaeopteryx

(Encyclopedia)Archaeopteryx ärˌkēŏpˈtərĭks [key] [Gr.,=primitive wing], a 150 million-year-old fossil animal first discovered in 1860 in the late Jurassic limestone of Solnhofen, Bavaria, and described the f...

cowbird

(Encyclopedia)cowbird, New World bird of the blackbird and oriole (hangnest) family. The male eastern, or common, cowbird is glossy black, about 8 in. (20 cm) long, with a brown head and breast; the female is gray....

Mineral Wells

(Encyclopedia)Mineral Wells, city (1990 pop. 14,870), Palo Pinto and Parker counties, N Tex.; inc. 1882. Aluminum products, bottled mineral water, clothing, and pharmaceuticals are produced, and there is gas proces...

Moore, Douglas Stuart

(Encyclopedia)Moore, Douglas Stuart, 1893–1969, American composer and teacher, b. Cutchogue, N.Y. Moore studied with Horatio Parker, Vincent D'Indy, Nadia Boulanger, and Ernest Bloch. In 1926 he joined the music ...

snipe

(Encyclopedia)snipe, common name for a shore bird of the family Scolopacidae (sandpiper family), native to the Old and New Worlds. The common, or Wilson's snipe (Capella gallinago), also called jacksnipe, is a game...

Cameron of Lochiel, Donald

(Encyclopedia)Cameron of Lochiel, Donald lŏkh-ēlˈ [key], 1695?–1748, Scottish clan chieftain, known as the Gentle Lochiel; grandson of Sir Ewen Cameron. He was the first of the major chieftains to join Charles...

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...

phoenix, in mythology

(Encyclopedia)phoenix, fabulous bird that periodically regenerated itself, used in literature as a symbol of death and resurrection. According to legend, the phoenix lived in Arabia; when it reached the end of its ...

Andrews, Lorrin

(Encyclopedia)Andrews, Lorrin, 1795–1868, American missionary to the Hawaiian Islands, b. present-day Vernon, Conn., grad. Princeton Theological Seminary, 1825. He founded (1831) on Maui a training school for tea...

Nore, the

(Encyclopedia)Nore, the, sandbank in the Thames estuary, SE England, 3 mi (4.8 km) E of Sheerness. At the east end is Nore Lightship. The name is also applied to part of the Thames estuary, a famous anchorage. A mu...