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kookaburra

(Encyclopedia)kookaburra ko͝okˈəbûrˌə [key], common name for a squat, long-tailed Australian kingfisher, Dacelo novaeguineae. It is one of the largest birds of the family Alcedinidae (kingfisher family). Beca...

Seymour, Horatio

(Encyclopedia)Seymour, Horatio sēˈmôr, sēˈmər [key], 1810–86, American politician, b. Pompey Hill, N.Y. He studied law at Utica, N.Y. and was admitted to the bar in 1832. A Democrat, he was military secreta...

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...

Bell, John

(Encyclopedia)Bell, John, 1797–1869, American statesman, b. near Nashville, Tenn. A leading member of the Nashville bar, he served in the U.S. House of Representatives (1827–41), was speaker in 1834, and for a ...

Prairie Pothole Region

(Encyclopedia)Prairie Pothole Region, large geographic area of central North America consisting of grass-covered wetlands. Stretching northwest from N Iowa through SW Minnesota, E South Dakota, E and N North Dakota...

Hewlett, William Redington

(Encyclopedia)Hewlett, William Redington hyo͞oˈlĭt [key], 1913–2001, American engineer and business executive, b. Ann Arbor, Mich., grad. Stanford (B.S. 1934, Engineer 1939), Massachusetts Institute of Technol...

Intolerable Acts

(Encyclopedia)Intolerable Acts, name given by American patriots to five laws (including the Quebec Act) adopted by Parliament in 1774, which limited the political and geographical freedom of the colonists. Four of ...

Strayhorn, Billy

(Encyclopedia)Strayhorn, Billy (William Thomas Strayhorn), 1915–67, African-American jazz composer, arranger, lyricist, and pianist, b. Dayton, Ohio. Classically trained, he was drawn to jazz, and early in his ca...

Sunderland, Robert Spencer, 2d earl of

(Encyclopedia)Sunderland, Robert Spencer, 2d earl of, 1641–1702, English statesman. He succeeded to the earldom in 1643. During the reign of Charles II he served on various diplomatic missions and in 1679 was mad...

Wade, Benjamin Franklin

(Encyclopedia)Wade, Benjamin Franklin, 1800–1878, U.S. senator from Ohio (1851–69), b. near Springfield, Mass. He moved (1821) to Ohio and studied law. He was successively prosecuting attorney of Ashtabula co.,...