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spoonbill

(Encyclopedia)spoonbill, common name for a large wading bird related to the ibis. It has a long bill with a tip like a flattened spoon, with which it captures small aquatic animals. The roseate spoonbill, Ajaia aja...

boat-billed heron

(Encyclopedia)boat-billed heron or boatbill, a tropical New World heron, Chochlearius chochlearius. With shorter legs and a squatter appearance than most herons, this bird is remarkable chiefly for its broad bill, ...

Wentworth, William Charles

(Encyclopedia)Wentworth, William Charles, 1793?–1872, Australian statesman. His exploration (1813) of the Blue Mts. in Australia revealed vast pasturelands in the western part of the continent. In 1816 he went to...

kiwi

(Encyclopedia)kiwi ăpˈtərĭks [key], common name for the smallest member of an order of primitive flightless birds related to the ostrich, the emu, and the cassowary. The kiwi, named by the Maoris for its shrill...

Coolidge, Calvin

(Encyclopedia)Coolidge, Calvin, 1872–1933, 30th President of the United States (1923–29), b. Plymouth, Vt. John Calvin Coolidge was a graduate of Amherst College and was admitted to the bar in 1897. He practice...

plover

(Encyclopedia)plover plŭvˈər [key], common name for some members of the large family Charadriidae, shore birds, small to medium in size, found in ice-free lands all over the world. Plovers are plumpish wading bi...

Keaton, Buster

(Encyclopedia)Keaton, Buster (Joseph Francis Keaton), 1895–1966, American movie actor, b. Piqua, Kans. Considered one of the greatest comic actors in film history, Keaton used his considerable acrobatic skills, w...

Arcaro, Eddie

(Encyclopedia)Arcaro, Eddie (George Edward Arcaro) ärkârˈō [key], 1916–97, American jockey, b. Cincinnati. In a thirty-year career (1931–62), he won 4,779 races and his mounts won $30,039,543 in purses, lea...

Lecompton

(Encyclopedia)Lecompton ləkŏmpˈtən [key], small town, Douglas co., NE Kans., on the Kansas River between Lawrence and Topeka. The pro-slavery Lecompton Constitution was formulated (Sept., 1857) there, and was r...

Kerr, Clark

(Encyclopedia)Kerr, Clark kûr, kär [key], 1911–2003, American educational reformer, b. Reading, Pa., grad. Swarthmore College (B.A., 1932) and the Univ. of California at Berkeley (Ph.D., 1939). He was a profess...