Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Audubon, John James ôˈdəbŏn [key], 1785–1851, American ornithologist, b. Les Cayes, Santo Domingo (now Haiti). The illegitimate son of a French sea captain and plantation owner and a Creole cham...

(Encyclopedia) limpkin or courlan ko͝orˈlən [key], common terms for a long-legged, nonmigratory marsh bird, considered the connecting evolutionary link between the crane and the rail. They have a cranelike skelet...

(Encyclopedia) finch, common name for members of the Fringillidae, the largest family of birds (including over half the known species), found in most parts of the world except Australia. The true finches are charact...

(Encyclopedia)  Doowop (also spelled doo-wop or doo wop) music, American popular vocal music style, c. late 1940s-early 1960s. Doowop is a form of vocal harmony mu...

(Encyclopedia) Hanks, Tom, 1956–, American film actor, b. Concord, Calif., as Thomas Jeffrey Hanks. In 1980 he acted in his first film, and in 1980–82 he co-starred in a television sitcom. Hanks subsequently app...

(Encyclopedia) Antiphilus ăntĭfˈĭləs [key], fl. 4th cent. b.c., Greek painter, of Alexandrian origin. Pliny and Quintilian wrote about his paintings of gryllos, a creature part man, part animal or bird. Pliny f...

(Encyclopedia) Bear, river, 350 mi (563 km) long, rising in the Uinta Mts., NE Utah, and flowing in a U-shaped course NW through Wyoming and Idaho, then S into Utah to enter Great Salt Lake. A perennial stream, the ...

(Encyclopedia) moa mōˈə [key] [Maori], common name for an extinct flightless bird of New Zealand related to the kiwi, the emu, the cassowary, and the ostrich. The various species ranged in size from that of a tur...

(Encyclopedia) molting, periodical shedding and renewal of the outer skin, exoskeleton, fur, or feathers of an animal. In most animals the process is triggered by secretions of the thyroid and pituitary glands. Near...

(Encyclopedia) Liguasan Marsh lĭgwəsänˈ, lĭgwäˈsän [key], extensive swamp region, c.25 mi (40 km) long and 20 mi (30 km) wide, along the Pulangi River, S central Mindanao, the Philippines. There are fertile ...