Gnatcatcher
Also called �Gnatwren, � family name Polioptilidae, any of about 11 species of small birds of the genus Polioptila, treated by many authorities as a subfamily of the Old World warbler family Sylviidae. The blue-gray gnatcatcher (P. caerulea), 11 cm (4.5 inches) long, with its long white-edged tail, looks like a tiny mockingbird. It breeds locally from eastern Canada and California to
Silhouette Island
Granitic island, third largest of the Seychelles archipelago, Republic of Seychelles, in the western Indian Ocean. It has an area of 7.6 sq mi (20 sq km), rises to 2,467 ft (751 m), and is 12 mi (19 km) northwest of Mah� Island. Virgin forests still grow in the more inaccessible parts of its mountainous terrain. The island is protected as a national park. Copra and fish are the main products. Pop. (1982 est.) 255.
Cornelius, Peter
German composer and author, known for his comic opera Der Barbier von Bagdad (The Barber of Bagdad). The son of an actor and an actress, he acted at Mainz and at Wiesbaden in his youth. In 1845 he studied composition and was later music critic for two Berlin journals. From 1853 to 1858 he lived at Weimar in the circle of Liszt and the Princess Sayn-Wittgenstein
Cyprian, Saint
Educated in Greece, Cyprian was appointed by Constantinople to be metropolitan of Kiev and Lithuania in 1375 and then of Moscow in 1381. In 1382 Cyprian was forced into exile by the prince of Moscow, Dmitry, who rejected all appointments made by Constantinople. Eight years later, following the succession of
Arnaut De Mareuil
Little is known of Arnaut's life. His early poems were dedicated to his patroness, Adelaide, the daughter of Raymond V, count of Toulouse, and wife of Roger II, viscount of B�ziers.
Anderson, Richard Heron
Anderson graduated from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point in 1842 and won the brevet of first lieutenant in the Mexican War, becoming first lieutenant in 1848 and captain in 1855; he took part in the following year in the Kansas troubles. At the outbreak of the Civil War in 1861, he resigned from the
D.b.e.
Dame commander of the British Empire, member of the second highest class of a British order of knighthood. See British Empire, The Most Excellent Order of the.
Maha-sivaratri
(Sanskrit: �Great Night of Siva�), the most important sectarian festival of the year for devotees of the Hindu god Siva. The 14th day of the dark half of each lunar month is specially sacred to Siva, but when it occurs in the month of Magha (January-February) and, to a lesser extent, in the month of Phalguna (February-March), it is a day of particular rejoicing. The preceding day the participant
Interlochen
Interlochen is best known as the home of the Interlochen
Dahmer, Jeffrey
While Dahmer was a teenager, he experienced fantasies of killing and mutilating men. He committed his first murder in Bath township, Ohio, in 1978. A second murder followed in 1987, and during the next five years he
Quaking Grass
The various species are native to Eurasia. Briza maxima, B. media, and B. minor (shivery grass) are cultivated as ornamentals and have become naturalized in temperate
Ukrainian Literature
The body of writings in the Ukrainian language. The earliest writings of the Ukrainians, works produced in Kievan Rus from the 11th to the 13th century, were composed in Church Slavonic and are thus the common literary heritage of the Russians and Belarusians as well. After the Mongol invasion (13th century), Ukrainian literature was in decline until its revival in the 16th
Auchincloss, Louis
Auchincloss studied at Yale University from 1935 to 1939 and graduated from the University of Virginia Law School in 1941. He was admitted to the New York state bar that same year and began a legal career that would last
