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smog

(Encyclopedia) smogsmogsmŏg [key] [smoke+fog], dense, visible air pollution. Smog is commonly of two types. The gray smog of older industrial cities like London and New York derives from the massive…

leafhopper

(Encyclopedia) leafhopper, common name for small, wedge-shaped leaping insects, cosmopolitan in distribution, belonging to the family Cicadellidae, which comprises some 5,500 species of insects. Some…

grouse

(Encyclopedia) grouse, common name for a game bird of the colder parts of the Northern Hemisphere. There are about 18 species. Grouse are henlike terrestrial birds, protectively plumaged in shades of…

oxpecker

(Encyclopedia) oxpecker, common name for an African starling of the genus Buphagus. Also known as tickbirds, oxpeckers have very short legs and sharp claws, which aid them in perching on the backs of…

manakin

(Encyclopedia) manakinmanakinmănˈəkən [key], common name for stocky, tiny birds, most measuring less than 5 in. (12.5 cm) long, comprising 59 species in the family Pipridae. Manakins are found…

mica

(Encyclopedia) micamicamīˈkə [key], general term for a large group of minerals, hydrous silicates of aluminum and potassium, often containing magnesium, ferrous iron, ferric iron, sodium, and lithium…

Blair, Tony

(Encyclopedia) Blair, Tony (Anthony Charles Lynton Blair), 1953–, British politician, b. Edinburgh. An Oxford-educated lawyer, he was first elected to Parliament in 1983 as the Labour party candidate…

tanzanite

(Encyclopedia) tanzanitetanzanitetănzănˈīt [key], beautiful gemstone discovered in 1967 in the Umba Valley near the Usambara Mts. in Tanzania, a precious variety of the mineral zoisite, a calcium…

killdeer

(Encyclopedia) killdeer, common North American shorebird related to the plover and the sandpiper. It is about 10 in. (25 cm) in length and its plumage is grayish brown with a double black band across…

Kostelanetz, André

(Encyclopedia) Kostelanetz, AndréKostelanetz, Andréänˈdrā kŏsˌtəläˈnĭts [key], 1901–80, American pianist and conductor, b. St. Petersburg, Russia. After studying at the St. Petersburg Conservatory of…