Catbird

The three species of the

Canaanite Religion

Beliefs and practices prevalent in ancient Palestine and Syria during the 2nd and 1st millennia BC, centring primarily on the deities El, Baal, and Anath (qq.v.). From time to time it subverted the essential monotheism of the Israelites after they occupied Canaan, the Promised Land of the Old Testament.

Obasanjo, Olusegun

On March 1, 1999, retired general Olusegun Obasanjo was declared the winner of the presidential election in Nigeria after 16 years of military dictatorships. Less than a year earlier, Obasanjo had been serving a 15-year jail term, having been imprisoned in 1995 for his outspoken views of Gen. Sani Abacha's repressive regime. Following Abacha's unexpected death in June 1998, Obasanjo was

Bone China

Hybrid hard-paste porcelain containing bone ash. The initial development of bone china is attributed to Josiah Spode the Second, who introduced it around 1800. His basic formula of six parts bone ash, four parts china stone, and three and a half parts china clay remains the standard English body. Although hard porcelain is strong, it chips fairly easily and, unless specially

Learning

The alteration of behaviour as a result of individual experience. When an organism can perceive and change its behaviour, it is said to learn.

Teague, Walter Dorwin

After study at the Art Students League of New York (1903–07) and four years with an advertising agency, Teague became a successful free-lance advertising designer. Increasingly, his clients sought his advice for product

Merlo

Cabacera (county seat) and partido (county) of Gran Buenos Aires, Argentina, west of the city of Buenos Aires, in Buenos Aires provincia. The region of the present-day partido was colonized shortly after the second and permanent founding of Buenos Aires (1580). In 1730 an interim parish was founded near the estancia (landholding) of Francisco de Merlo. In the same year, Merlo founded

Sunbird

Any of about 95 species of the songbird family Nectariniidae (order Passeriformes) that have brilliant plumage in breeding males. They are 9 to 15 cm (3 1/2 to 6 inches) long and live chiefly on nectar. Unlike hummingbirds, sunbirds rarely hover while feeding but instead perch on the flower stalk (see photo). Sunbirds are most numerous

Biological Development, Length and timing of the reproductive phase

Natural selection results in the production by one generation of offspring that are able to survive and reproduce themselves to form a further generation. The time unit appropriate to natural selection is therefore the generation interval. There will always be some natural selective pressure for the shortening of the generation interval, simply out of a natural

Lignum Vitae

Guaiacum officinale occurs from the southern United States to northern South America. It grows about 9 m (30 feet) tall and reaches a diameter of about 25 cm (10 inches). The evergreen leaves are opposite, divided into leaflets

Paducah

City, seat of McCracken county, southwestern Kentucky, U.S., at the confluence of the Ohio (there bridged to Brookport, Illinois) and Tennessee rivers. The site, known as Pekin, was part of a grant to soldier and frontiersman George Rogers Clark. At his death his brother William, who was coleader of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, received the land, laid out the town in 1827, and named

Catargiu, Lascar

In 1858 Catargiu served on the Moldavian divan ad hoc (representative commission) formed to determine the future political organization of the Danubian principalities—Moldavia and Walachia—and in

Hawk Moth

Also called  Sphinx Moth, or Hummingbird Moth  (family Sphingidae), any member of cosmopolitan insects (order Lepidoptera), named for their hovering, swift flight patterns. These stout-bodied moths have long, narrow forewings and shorter hindwings, with wingspans ranging from 5 to 20 cm (2 to 8 inches). Many species pollinate flowers such as orchids and petunias while sucking nectar; the proboscis (feeding organ) of some

Alabama, Health and welfare

In rural areas and among nonwhites, educational and economic opportunities are fewer, and health and medical resources and services are less available. Welfare payments in Alabama rank low by national standards. Penal institutions include several prisons and camps for youthful offenders. Controversy over conditions in these institutions has occasionally

Mauer

Pleistocene locality on the Neckar River of Germany and the name of a Pleistocene deposit, the Mauer Sands (the Pleistocene epoch began about 1,600,000 years ago and ended about 10,000 years ago). The Mauer Sands are about 64 feet (20 m) thick and contained the fossil remains of the sabre-toothed cat, bear, horse, hippopotamus, and extinct elephant; Germany's oldest human fragment, the Heidelberg

Sunflower

Plant of the genus Helianthus of the family Asteraceae, native primarily to North and South America. The common sunflower is an annual herb with a rough hairy stem 1–4.5 m (3–15 feet) high, broad, coarsely toothed, rough leaves 7.5–30 cm (3–12 inches) long, and heads of flowers 7.5–15 cm wide in wild specimens and often 0.3 m or more in cultivated types. The disk flowers are brown, yellow,

Simon, Paul

One of the most paradoxical figures in rock-and-roll history, Simon exemplified many of the principles against which the music initially reacted. From his first big hit, “The Sounds of Silence,” in 1965, Simon aspired to a self-consciously elevated poetic tone in his

'ayyar

Though 'ayyarun were found fighting for Islam on the frontiers of inner Asia, the most thorough documentation of these warriors describes their activities in Baghdad in the 10th–12th century, a picture that may not be typical of 'ayy

Gabon, Relief and drainage

The narrow coastal plain—often no more than 20 miles (32 kilometres) wide in the south—is formed of sandstone and alluvium; northward it broadens to a width of 100 miles, with outcrops of chalk, limestone, and Cretaceous sandstone. North of the most westerly point, Cape Lopez, the contour of the coast becomes more jagged. The Atlantic's northward-flowing Benguela Current, which

Girl Scouts

Also called (in Great Britain and some other countries)  Girl Guides  worldwide organization for girls, dedicated to training them in citizenship, good conduct, and outdoor activities. Robert (later Lord) Baden-Powell founded the Girl Guides in Great Britain in 1910 in response to the requests of girls who were interested in the Boy Scout movement established by him in 1908. The first Girl Scout troop in the United States was formed in 1912 by Juliette

Anshar And Kishar

In Mesopotamian mythology, the male and female principles, the twin horizons of sky and earth. Their parents were either Apsu (the watery deep beneath the earth) and Tiamat (the personification of salt water) or Lahmu and Lahamu, the first set of twins born to Apsu and Tiamat. Anshar and Kishar, in turn, were the parents of Anu (An), the supreme heaven god.

Sevan, Lake

Lake in Armenia, with an area of 525 sq mi (1,360 sq km). Lying at 6,250 ft (1,905 m) above sea level in a mountain-enclosed basin, it drains by the Hrazdan River into the Aras River and to the Caspian Sea, but most of its water is lost by evaporation rather than by runoff. The lake is in two connected parts, the smaller but deeper Maly Sevan (northwest), with a maximum depth of 282 ft, and the Bolshoy Sevan (southeast),

Ulrich

A grandson of Ulrich V, count of Württemberg, he succeeded his kinsman Eberhard II as duke of Württemberg in 1498, being declared of age in 1503. He obtained territories from the Palatinate through alliance with the Holy Roman emperor Maximilian

Adelaide, Saint

The daughter of Rudolf II (d. 937), king of Burgundy, and Bertha of Swabia, Adelaide was married (947) to Lothair, who succeeded his father, Hugh of Arles, as king of Italy

Aytoun, William Edmondstoune

Born into a literary family, Aytoun learned from his mother to love Scottish ballads and history. He was educated at the University of Edinburgh and in Germany, and in 1840 he was called to the Scottish bar. That same year he first

Zapopan

City, north-central Jalisco estado (“state”), west-central Mexico. It is in the temperate Guadalajara Valley, at an elevation of 5,243 feet (1,598 m) above sea level, 4.5 miles (7 km) northwest of Guadalajara, the state capital. It is a commercial and manufacturing centre for the surrounding area that produces grain (principally corn [maize]), sugarcane, cotton, and fruits and vegetables. Livestock