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Manitoba, Lake

(Encyclopedia)Manitoba, Lake, 1,817 sq mi (4,706 sq km), SW Man., Canada; one of the largest lakes of North America. A remnant of glacial Lake Agassiz, it is fed by Lake Winnipegosis and drains into Lake Winnipeg. ...

Saint Elias, Mount

(Encyclopedia)Saint Elias, Mount ĭlīˈəs [key], 18,008 ft (5,489 m) high, in the St. Elias Mts. on the U.S.-Canadian border between SW Yukon and SE Alaska; fourth highest peak of North America. It was first seen...

tinamou

(Encyclopedia)tinamou tĭnˈəmo͞o [key], common name for a South American game bird related to the ostrich. It is protectively colored in browns and grays. The females are the aggressors in courtship, and the mal...

ovenbird

(Encyclopedia)ovenbird, common name for a member of the family Furnariidae, primitive passerine birds, which build elaborate, domed nests of clay or dig tunnels in the ground to lay their eggs. Ovenbirds are most c...

amethyst

(Encyclopedia)amethyst ămˈəthĭst [key] [Gr.,=non-drunkenness], variety of quartz, violet to purple in color, used as a gem. It is the most highly valued of the semiprecious quartzes. It is associated with a num...

Hirsch, Maurice, baron de

(Encyclopedia)Hirsch, Maurice, baron de mōrēsˈ bärôNˈ də hĭrsh [key], 1831–96, German Jewish financier and philanthropist. The benefactor of numerous organizations and causes, his most ambitious project w...

horehound

(Encyclopedia)horehound, aromatic Old World perennial herb (Marrubium vulgare) of the family Labiatae (mint family), naturalized in North America. It has woolly white foliage and tiny white clustered flowers and is...

durian

(Encyclopedia)durian, the highly esteemed, edible fruit of Durio zibethinus. The edible portions are the seeds found inside the large spiny fruits, which may weigh several pounds. The durian, although notoriously p...

Hall, James

(Encyclopedia)Hall, James, 1811–98, American geologist and paleontologist, b. Hingham, Mass., grad. Rensselaer School (later Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute), 1832. An authority on stratigraphy and invertebrate ...

Jones, Brian

(Encyclopedia)Jones, Brian, 1947–, British balloonist, b. Bristol. A former Royal Air Force pilot, he entered the world of ballooning in the 1980s, and in 1997 became an organizer for the attempt of the British-b...