Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) English sparrow or house sparrow, small bird, Passer domesticus, common throughout most of the world. English sparrows are 4 to 7 in. (10–18 cm) long, with short, stout bills. The male is brown with...

(Encyclopedia) indigo bunting or indigo bird: see bunting. ...

(Encyclopedia) Medary, Samuel mĕdˈərē [key], 1801–64, American journalist, b. Montgomery co., Pa. In Ohio after 1825, he edited the Ohio Sun at Bethel and later the Ohio Statesman at Columbus and was superinte...

(Encyclopedia) MacMillan, Donald Baxter, 1874–1970, American arctic explorer, b. Provincetown, Mass., grad. Bowdoin College, 1898, and studied at Harvard. After a decade of teaching, he went on the expedition (190...

(Encyclopedia) Baden-Powell of Gilwell, Robert Stephenson Smyth Baden-Powell, 1st Baron bāˈdən-pōˈəl [key], 1857–1941, British soldier, founder of the Boy Scouts (see Scouts). He saw much active service in I...

(Encyclopedia) Leicester, Robert Dudley, earl of lĕsˈtər [key], 1532?–1588, English courtier and favorite of Queen Elizabeth I. A younger son of John Dudley, duke of Northumberland, he was early brought into th...

(Encyclopedia) chickadee chĭkˈədēˌ [key], small North American bird of the titmouse family. The black-capped chickadee (Parus atricapillus), lively and gregarious, is a permanent resident over most of its range...

(Encyclopedia) stilt, common name for some members of the family Recurvirostridae, shore birds including the avocet. Stilts, as their name implies, have the longest legs of any bird except the flamingo. They frequen...

(Encyclopedia) Weimaraner vīˈməräˌnər, wīˈmərāˌ– [key], breed of large, muscular sporting dog developed in Germany in the early 19th cent. It stands between 23 and 27 in. (58.4–68.6 cm) high at the sh...

(Encyclopedia) poster, placard designed to be posted in some public place for purposes of commercial announcement or propaganda. Advertising makes wide use of posters, as do charitable and political organizations. I...