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grackle

(Encyclopedia)grackle, common name applied to some members of the New World family Icteridae, which also includes blackbirds, orioles, meadowlarks, cowbirds, and others. The plumage of the purple, or common, grackl...

hogback

(Encyclopedia)hogback, sharp-crested ridge with steep slopes on both sides, formed by the erosion of steeply tilted rock layers. Hogbacks are commonly formed along the eroded flanks of large, tightly folded anticli...

East River

(Encyclopedia)East River, tidal strait, 16 mi (26 km) long and 600–4,000 ft (183–1,219 m) wide, connecting Upper New York Bay and Long Island Sound, New York City, and separating the boroughs of Manhattan and t...

alpine plants

(Encyclopedia)alpine plants, high-altitude representatives of various flowering plants (chiefly perennials) that because of their dwarf habit, profuse blooming, and the preference of many for shady places are culti...

Auyuittuq National Park

(Encyclopedia)Auyuittuq National Park ouyo͞oˈətək, –ətŭkˌ [key], c.8,290 sq mi (21,470 sq km), E Baffin Island near Pangnirtung, Nunavut Territory, Canada; est. 1972. Located on the Cumberland Peninsula, i...

Ruggles, Carl

(Encyclopedia)Ruggles, Carl, 1876–1971, American composer, b. Marion, Mass. Ruggles studied music at Harvard and was a friend of Charles Ives. His works are highly original, characterized by complex textures and ...

San Cristóbal

(Encyclopedia)San Cristóbal sän krēstōˈbäl [key], active volcano, c.5,725 ft (1,745 m) high, Chinandega dept., NW Nicaragua. Part of a complex of five volcanic mountains, it is the country's highest volcano a...

Antrim

(Encyclopedia)Antrim ănˈtrĭm [key], district, 217 sq mi (562 sq km), NE Northern Ireland. The eastern and seaward area is a picturesque region of mountains and glens; to the west, wh...

Pavlof Volcano

(Encyclopedia)Pavlof Volcano, active volcano, 8,177 ft (2,493 m) high, W Alaska Peninsula, SW Alaska, on the W shore of Pavlof Bay. It and its neighboring twin volcano, Pavlof Sister, 7,028 ft (2,142 m) high, are l...

Ronda

(Encyclopedia)Ronda rônˈdä [key], town (1990 pop. 34,102), Málaga prov., S Spain, in Andalusia. One of the most colorful of Spanish towns, it is beautifully situated high in the mountains of Sierra de Ronda and...