title: Tapir content: absolute predictor of genetic similarity; for instance, G-banded preparations have revealed Malayan, Baird's and South American tapirs have identical X chromosomes, while mountain tapirs are separated by a heterochromatic addition/deletion. Lack of genetic diversity in tapir populations has become a major source of concern for conservationists. Habitat loss has isolated already small populations of wild tapirs, putting each group in greater danger of dying out completely. Even in zoos, genetic diversity is limited; all captive mountain tapirs, for example, are descended from only two founder individuals. Hybrids of Baird's and the South American tapirs were bred at the San Francisco


title: Tapir content: Zoo around 1969 and later produced a backcross second generation. A number of conservation projects have been started around the world. The Tapir Specialist Group, a unit of the IUCN Species Survival Commission, strives to conserve biological diversity by stimulating, developing, and executing practical programs to study, save, restore, and manage the four species of tapir and their remaining habitats in Central and South America and Southeast Asia. The Baird's Tapir Project of Costa Rica is the longest ongoing tapir project in the world, having started in 1994. It involves placing radio collars on tapirs in Costa Rica's Corcovado National


title: Tapir content: Park to study their social systems and habitat preferences. Tapirs are generally shy, but when scared they can defend themselves with their very powerful jaws. In 1998, a zookeeper in Oklahoma City was mauled and had an arm severed after opening the door to a female tapir's enclosure to push food inside (the tapir's two-month-old baby also occupied the cage at the time). In 2006, Carlos Manuel Rodriguez Echandi (who was then the Costa Rican Environmental Minister) became lost in the Corcovado National Park and was found by a search party with a "nasty bite" from a wild tapir. In


title: Tapir content: 2013, a two-year-old girl suffered stomach and arm injuries after being mauled by a South American tapir in the Dublin Zoo during a supervised experience in the tapir enclosure. The Dublin Zoo pleaded guilty to breaching health and safety regulations and was ordered to pay €5,000 to charity. However, such examples are rare; for the most part, tapirs are likely to avoid confrontation in favour of running from predators, hiding, or, if possible, submerging themselves in nearby water until a threat is gone. Frank Buck wrote about an attack by a tapir in 1926, which he described in his book,


title: Tapir content: "Bring 'Em Back Alive". In Chinese, Korean and Japanese, the tapir is named after a beast from mythology that has a snout like that of an elephant. In Chinese and Japanese folklore, tapirs, like their chimerical counterpart, are thought to eat people's nightmares. In Chinese, the name of this beast, subsequently the name of the tapir, is "mò" in Mandarin () and in Cantonese (). The Korean equivalent is (Hangul: , Hanja: ), while in Japanese it is called (). In the prehistoric sequences of the science fiction film , tapirs appear alongside primitive hominids in Africa. There is no


title: Tapir content: evidence indicating that tapirs ever existed in Africa, so it is likely they were added simply for their "prehistoric" appearance. In the of the film, the hominids instead coexist with warthogs, which they learn to hunt for food. Mark the Tapir is a character in the animated series "Sonic Boom". He is a parody of a stereotypical obsessed fan. Drowzee and Hypno from the "Pokémon" franchise are based on tapirs, with their ability to eat dreams being derived from the baku. Tapir A tapir ( , or , ) is a large, herbivorous mammal, similar in shape to a pig,


title: Schlern content: Schlern The Schlern (; ; ; 2,563 m) is a mountain of the Dolomites in South Tyrol, Italy. The peak at the north west end of the mountain (left, in the image at right) was first ascended in July 1880 by Johann Santner. It is named the Santner Spitze in his honour. The Schlern dominates the villages of Seis am Schlern and Völs am Schlern, and the summit can be reached following the circular route marked with the number 1 from both villages. At , there is the "Schlernboden" inn and on the summit plateau is the "Schlernhaus" inn ,


title: Schlern content: both open from 1 June to 15 October. The highest summit is the Petz with . The Schlern is sung of in the "Bozner Bergsteigerlied" as one of South Tyrol's landmarks. Its characteristic profile appears on the "Der Schlern - Zeitschrift für Südtiroler Landeskunde" (Magazine for South Tyrolean Regional Studies) and the logo pressed into Loacker's wafer biscuits. Schlern The Schlern (; ; ; 2,563 m) is a mountain of the Dolomites in South Tyrol, Italy. The peak at the north west end of the mountain (left, in the image at right) was first ascended in July 1880 by Johann


title: "Fred Allen" content: with too many people and too much activity," wrote Alan Havig.) A comedy series, "Fred Allen's Sketchbook," did not catch on. He landed a two-year stint as a panelist on the CBS quiz show "What's My Line?" from 1954 until his death in 1956 (March 17, 1956). Allen actually appeared as a Mystery Guest on "What's My Line?" on July 17, 1955, when he was taking a week off from the show to have an emergency appendectomy. Afterwards he joked about the operation: "It was an emergency. The doctor needed some money hurriedly." Allen also spent his final years as


title: Feodosia content: Petro Konashevych-Sahaidachny destroyed the Turkish fleet and captured Caffa. Having conquered the city, the cossacks released the men, women and children who were slaves. Ottoman control ceased when the expanding Russian Empire conquered the whole Crimea in 1783 (or 1774?). It was renamed Feodosiya (Ѳеодосія, reformed spelling: Феодосия), after the traditional Russian reading of the ancient Greek name. In 1900 Zibold constructed the first air well (dew condenser) on mount Tepe-Oba near Feodosiya. The city was occupied by the forces of Nazi Germany during World War II, sustaining significant damage in the process. The Jewish population numbering 3,248 before the


title: "Border control" content: which banned Asians from Uganda, thus creating a mass exodus of the (largely Gujarati) Asian community of Uganda. Such ethnically driven border control policies took forms ranging from anti-Asian sentiment in East Africa to Apartheid policies in South Africa and Namibia (then known as Southwest Africa under South African rule) which creates bantustans and pass laws to segregate and impose border controls against non-whites, and encouraged immigration of whites at the expense of Blacks as well as Indians and other Asians. Whilst border control in Europe and east of the Pacific have tightened over time, they have largely been liberalised


title: "Eurasian blue tit" content: Eurasian blue tit The Eurasian blue tit ("Cyanistes caeruleus") is a small passerine bird in the tit family, Paridae. It is easily recognisable by its blue and yellow plumage and small size. Eurasian blue tits, usually resident and non-migratory birds, are widespread and a common resident breeder throughout temperate and subarctic Europe and western Asia in deciduous or mixed woodlands with a high proportion of oak. They usually nest in tree holes, although they easily adapt to nest boxes where necessary. Their main rival for nests and in the search for food is the larger and more common great tit.


title: "Eurasian blue tit" content: The Eurasian blue tit prefers insects and spiders for its diet. Outside the breeding season, they also eat seeds and other vegetable-based foods. The birds are famed for their skill, as they can cling to the outermost branches and hang upside down when looking for food. The Eurasian blue tit was described by Carl Linnaeus in 1758 in the 10th edition of his "Systema Naturae" under the binomial name "Parus caeruleus". "Parus" is the classical Latin for a tit and "caeruleus" is the Latin for dark blue or cerulean. Two centuries earlier, before the introduction of the binomial nomenclature, the


title: "Eurasian blue tit" content: same Latin name had been used by the Swiss naturalist Conrad Gesner when he described and illustrated the blue tit in his "Historiae animalium" of 1555. In 2005, analysis of the mtDNA cytochrome "b" sequences of the Paridae indicated that "Cyanistes" was an early offshoot from the lineage of other tits, and more accurately regarded as a genus rather than a subgenus of "Parus". The current genus name, "Cyanistes", is from the Ancient Greek "kuanos", "dark blue". The African blue tit ("Cyanistes teneriffae") was formerly considered conspecific. There are currently at least nine recognised subspecies: Pleske's tit ("Cyanistes pleskei") is


title: "Eurasian blue tit" content: a common hybrid between this species and the azure tit, in western Russia. The cap is usually darker than the azure tit, and the tail is paler than the Eurasian blue tit. The Eurasian blue tit is usually , long with a wingspan of for all genders, and weighs about . A typical Eurasian blue tit has an azure-blue crown and dark blue line passing through the eye, and encircling the white cheeks to the chin, giving the bird a very distinctive appearance. The forehead and a bar on the wing are white. The nape, wings and tail are blue


title: "Eurasian blue tit" content: and the back is yellowish green. The underparts is mostly sulphur-yellow with a dark line down the abdomen—the yellowness is indicative of the number of yellowy-green caterpillars eaten, due to high levels of carotene pigments in the diet. The bill is black, the legs bluish grey, and the irides dark brown. The sexes are similar, but under ultraviolet light, males have a brighter blue crown. Young blue tits are noticeably more yellow. There are currently around 20–44 million pairs in Europe. The Eurasian blue tit and the related hybrids are considered native species in areas of the European continent with


title: "Eurasian blue tit" content: a mainly temperate or Mediterranean climate, and in parts of the Middle East. These areas include Ireland, the United Kingdom and most of the European Union and EFTA (except Malta, where they are considered vagrant, and Iceland, where they are absent), plus: Albania, Algeria, Andorra, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Lebanon, Libya, the Republic of Macedonia, Moldova, Montenegro, Morocco, Russia, San Marino, Serbia, Syria, Tunisia, Turkey, Vatican City and Ukraine. In Great Britain the Eurasian blue tit is typically found in deciduous woodland, parks, gardens and even in the centre of towns. Eurasian blue


title: "Eurasian blue tit" content: and great tits form mixed winter flocks, and the former are perhaps the better gymnasts in the slender twigs. A Eurasian blue tit will often ascend a trunk in short jerky hops, imitating a treecreeper. As a rule the bird roosts in ivy or evergreens, but in harsh winters will nest wherever there is a suitable small hole, be it in a tree or nesting box. They are very agile and can hang from almost anywhere. This is a common and popular European garden bird, due to its perky acrobatic performances when feeding on nuts or suet. It swings beneath


title: "Eurasian blue tit" content: the holder, calling "tee, tee, tee" or a scolding "churr". The Eurasian blue tit will nest in any suitable hole in a tree, wall, or stump, or an artificial nest box, often competing with house sparrows or great tits for the site. Few birds more readily accept the shelter of a nesting box; the same hole is returned to year after year, and when one pair dies another takes possession. It is estimated by the RSPB that there are 3,535,000 breeding pairs in the UK. Eggs are long and wide. Egg size appears to depend mostly on the size of


title: "Eurasian blue tit" content: individual females and secondarily on habitat, with smaller eggs found at higher altitudes. The clutch's total weight can be 1.5 times as heavy as the female bird. The bird is a close sitter, hissing and biting at an intruding finger. In the South West of England such behaviour has earned the Eurasian blue tit the colloquial nickname "Little Billy Biter" or "Billy Biter", originating from the UK. When protecting its eggs it raises its crest, but this is a sign of excitement rather than anger, for it is also elevated during nuptial display. The nesting material is usually moss, wool,


title: "Eurasian blue tit" content: hair and feathers, and the eggs are laid in April or May. The number in the clutch is often very large, but seven or eight are normal, and bigger clutches are usually laid by two or even more hens. It is not unusual for a single bird to feed the chicks in the nest at a rate of one feed every 90 seconds during the height of the breeding season. In winter they form flocks with other tit species. In an analysis carried out using ring-recovery data in Britain, the survival rate for juveniles in their first year was 38%,


title: "Eurasian blue tit" content: while the adult annual survival rate was 53%. From these figures the typical lifespan is only three years. Within Britain, the maximum recorded age is 10 years and 3 months for a bird that was ringed in Bedfordshire. The maximum recorded age overall is 11 years and 7 months for a bird in the Czech Republic. The Eurasian blue tit is a valuable destroyer of pests, though it is fond of young buds of various trees, especially when insect prey is scarce, and may pull them to bits in the hope of finding insects. It is a well-known predator of


title: "Eurasian blue tit" content: many Lepidoptera species including the Wood Tiger moth. No species, however, destroys more coccids and aphids, the worst foes of many plants. It takes leaf miner grubs and green tortrix moths (Tortricidae). Seeds are eaten, as with all this family, and blue tits in British urban areas have evolved the ability to digest milk and cream. Eurasian blue tits use songs and calls throughout the year. Songs are mostly used in late winter and spring to defend the territory or to attract mates. Calls are used for multiple reasons. Communication with other Eurasian blue tits is the most important motivation


title: "Eurasian blue tit" content: for the use of calls. They inform one another on their location in trees by means of contact-calls. They use alarm-calls to warn others (including birds of other species such as the great tit, the European robin or the treecreeper) about the presence of predators in the neighbourhood. Scolding, for example, is used when a ground predator (e.g. fox, cat or dog), a low flying predator or a perched owl are noticed. Sometimes this is followed by mobbing behaviour in which birds gather together in flocks to counter a predator. The alarm-whistle warns other birds about the proximity of a


title: "Eurasian blue tit" content: Eurasian sparrowhawk, a northern goshawk, a common buzzard or other flying predators that form a potential danger in the air. A series of high-pitched 'zeedling' notes are given by both partners before and during copulation. The begging-call is used by juveniles to beg for food from parents. Eurasian blue tits are able to culturally transmit learning to other tit species. An example of this, dating from the 1920s, is the ability to open milk bottles with foil tops, to get at the cream underneath. Such behaviour has been suppressed recently by the gradual change of human dietary habits (low-fat or


title: "Eurasian blue tit" content: skimmed milk instead of full-fat), and the way of getting them (from a supermarket in plastic containers with hard plastic lids), instead of the milkman. In addition, the instinct to strip bark from trees in search of insects has developed into a tendency to peel building materials such as thatch, wallpaper, stucco and window putty. The small size of the Eurasian blue tit makes it vulnerable to prey by larger birds such as jays who catch the vulnerable fledglings when leaving the nest. The most important predator is probably the sparrowhawk, closely followed by the domestic cat. Nests may be


title: "Eurasian blue tit" content: robbed by mammals such as weasels and red squirrels, as well as introduced grey squirrels in the UK. The successful breeding of chicks is dependent on sufficient supply of green caterpillars as well as satisfactory weather. Breeding seasons may be affected badly if the weather is cold and wet between May and July, particularly if this coincides with the emergence of the caterpillars on which the nestlings are fed. Eurasian blue tits are known to be host to feather mites, and rarely lice and flat flies. In Europe, the only feather mite species known to live on the blue tit


title: "Eurasian blue tit" content: host is "Proctophyllodes stylifer". However, this mite seems to be of no concern to the bird as, until now, it is only known to feed on dead feather tissue. "P. stylifer" lives all its developmental stages, i.e. egg, larva, protonymph, tritonymph and adult, within the plumage of the same host. The usual sites where "P. stylifer" is encountered are the remiges and the rectrices of the bird where they can be found tandemly positioned between the barbs of the rachis. The Eurasian blue tit is classified as a least concern species on the IUCN Red List (version 3.1), and as


title: "Eurasian blue tit" content: a Green Status species, since 1996, by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds in the United Kingdom. The Eurasian blue tit has appeared on many stamps and ornaments. Its most recent appearance on a British stamp was the 2010 "Birds of Britain" series. Eurasian blue tit The Eurasian blue tit ("Cyanistes caeruleus") is a small passerine bird in the tit family, Paridae. It is easily recognisable by its blue and yellow plumage and small size. Eurasian blue tits, usually resident and non-migratory birds, are widespread and a common resident breeder throughout temperate and subarctic Europe and western Asia


title: "John Neville, 1st Marquess of Montagu" content: descendant of William de la Pole, 1st Duke of Suffolk). Elizabeth married firstly Thomas Scrope, 6th Baron Scrope of Masham, who was a dedicated Yorkist for his whole career, and secondly Sir Henry Wentworth of Nettlestead, while Margaret Neville married firstly Sir John Mortimer (who was dead before 12 November 1504), only son of Sir Hugh Mortimer and Eleanor Cornwall,secondly Charles Brandon, 1st Duke of Suffolk, and thirdly Robert Downes, gentleman. Lucy married firstly Sir Thomas FitzWilliam of Aldwark, North Yorkshire, and secondly Sir Anthony Browne. Finally, Isabel, who married firstly Sir Thomas Huddleston of Millom, Cumberland, (the Huddlestons of


title: "Gaia hypothesis" content: dimethyl sulfide are responsive to variations in climate forcing, and that these responses lead to a negative feedback loop that acts to stabilise the temperature of the Earth's atmosphere. Currently the increase in human population and the environmental impact of their activities, such as the multiplication of greenhouse gases may cause negative feedbacks in the environment to become positive feedback. Lovelock has stated that this could bring an extremely accelerated global warming, but he has since stated the effects will likely occur more slowly. James Lovelock and Andrew Watson developed the mathematical model Daisyworld, in which temperature regulation arises from


title: "Clarence Clemons" content: During a subsequent performance on the "Late Show with David Letterman", Vedder played a ukulele with "Clarence" written across the front of it. Before singing "Moment of Surrender" at the U2 concert in Anaheim on Saturday, June 18, 2011, Bono paid tribute to Clemons, who had died earlier that day. Bono read lyrics from Springsteen's "Jungleland" near the end of the song, and he repeated them at the song's conclusion. Bono repeated this dedication and tribute during "Moment of Surrender" at the U2 concert in New Jersey on Tuesday, June 21, 2011 and again in Baltimore on Wednesday, June 22.


title: Skipton content: centre to Aireville Park, where live performance acts entertain the public, culminating in live music and a firework display. Today, main events in Skipton include the annual heritage event Skipton Sheep Day which takes place on the first Sunday in July on Skipton High Street and showcases what Skipton and the Yorkshire Dales has to offer with demonstrations, stalls, entertainment and food on offer. Another main event on the annual calendar is Skipton Christmas Market which has been constantly voted in the top 10 of the UK's best Christmas Markets. Skipton Town Hall holds regular craft fairs and special events


title: "Edison Records" content: wax shavings and dust. 11. Cylinders are inspected, packed and placed in the stock room for a minimum of thirty days before shipping. 12. The reinforcing liners are made as follows: Crinoline cloth of specifications given under "Tests", are cut into a trapezoid (Paper Products Dept.) base length 6¼, altitude 5⅝" top length 5¾". A pack of these are placed in a vise edgewise and thinned glue, one part Le Pages Glue, one part water, brushed onto one slant edge. A liner is then wrapped a tapered mandrel of such size as to fit no too snugly on the molding


title: "Lake Garda" content: Lake Garda Lake Garda ( or "", ; ; ) is the largest lake in Italy. It is a popular holiday location in northern Italy, about halfway between Brescia and Verona, and between Venice and Milan on the edge of the Dolomites. Glaciers formed this alpine region at the end of the last Ice Age. The lake and its shoreline are divided between the provinces of Verona (to the south-east), Brescia (south-west), and Trentino (north). The name Garda, which the lake has been seen referred to in documents dating to the eighth century, comes from the town of the same


title: "Lake Garda" content: name. It is the evolution of the Germanic word "warda", meaning "place of guard" or "place of observation." The northern part of the lake is narrower, surrounded by mountains, the majority of which belong to the Gruppo del Baldo. The shape is typical of a moraine valley, probably having been formed under the action of a Paleolithic glacier. Although traces of the glacier's actions are evident today, in more recent years it has been hypothesised that the glacier occupied a previously existing depression, created by stream erosion 5 to 6 million years ago. The lake has numerous small islands and


title: "Lake Garda" content: five main ones, the largest being Isola del Garda where in 1220 St. Francis of Assisi founded a monastery, in its place now stands a nineteenth-century building in the Venetian Gothic style. Nearby to the south is Isola San Biagio, also known as the Isola dei Conigli ("Island of the Rabbits"). Both are offshore of San Felice del Benaco, on the lake's western side. The three other main islands are Isola dell'Olivo, Isola di Sogno, and Isola di Trimelone, all farther north near the eastern side. The main tributary is the Sarca River, others include the Ponale River (fed by


title: "Lake Garda" content: Lago di Ledro), the Varone/Magnone River (via the Cascate del Varone) and various streams from both mountain sides, while the only outlet is the Mincio River (, at Peschiera). The subdivision is created by the presence of a fault submerged between Sirmione and Punta San Vigilio which is almost a natural barrier that hampers the homogenization between the water of the two zones. If the water level of the Adige river is too high, excess water is diverted to the lake through the Mori-Torbole tunnel. The particularly mild climate favours the growth of some Mediterranean plants, including the olive tree.


title: "Lake Garda" content: Citrus (lemon) trees can also be found, which are extremely rare at this latitude (46° North). This greatly favoured the development of tourism since the end of the second world war. In ancient times, poets like Catullus wrote about "Lacus Benacus" with its mild climate vivified by the winds. The lake is oriented from north to south towards the Po Valley, so many winds typical of the lake are the result of a difference between lower and higher altitude temperatures. Due to this, winds are generated that descend from the mountains to the plains in the morning and go back


title: "Lake Garda" content: to the mountains in the afternoon. The bottleneck formed by the lake basin affects the timing of the winds, many of which happen on a regular daily basis. The winds are all named, most in regional Italian dialect so a single wind may have different names. "Salmo carpio", also known as the carpione ("carpione del Garda" or "Lake Garda carpione") is a rare salmonid fish endemic to Lake Garda. It has been introduced to a number of other lakes in Italy and elsewhere but unsuccessfully in all cases. The population in Lake Garda has been strongly declining, and is considered


title: "Lake Garda" content: critically endangered (IUCN 3.1). The main threats are due to overfishing, pollution and possibly competition from introduced species such as Coregonus and other Salmonidae. Adult lake trout outside the mating season are silvery with very few black spots on the body and almost none on the head. During the mating season males develop some a dark mottled body coloration. Garda lake trout reach a length of up to 50 centimeters. They live primarily in depths of . They feed on zooplankton and bottom-dwelling crustaceans in summer. Males and females reach sexual maturity at two or three years. The mating takes


title: "Lake Garda" content: place every one to two years. The spawning takes place in depth in the vicinity of underwater springs. The maximum age is five years. The ancient fortified town of Sirmione, located on the south of the lake, is one particularly popular destination, home to the Virgilio & Catullo Spa Complexes, as well as numerous restaurants, bars, hotels, fashion stores and a market. The picturesque Scaliger castle dates from the 13th century. The Roman poet Catullus had a villa here, and visitors can see a ruined Roman spa named the Grotte di Catullo (Grottoes of Catullus) although there is no evidence


title: "Lake Garda" content: linking him to this particular building. The sulfur springs at the tip of the peninsula have a reputation for healing catarrhal conditions, particularly those involving the ear. Another popular town is the town of Garda. Garda is approximately from the more popular town of Verona. Garda's economy is based off tourism. Nearby, there is Gardaland, one of the most famous theme parks in Italy. At the northern end of the lake, the towns of Riva and Torbole are famous for winds that attract people who sail, windsurf & kiteboard. Infrequent ferry services connect major towns on the eastern and western


title: "Lake Garda" content: shores of Lake Garda. The services run in a zig-zag manner from Desenzano del Garda to Riva del Garda, via Peschiera del Garda, Salò, Garda and Malcesine. One express ferry, on which bicycles are not allowed, operates per day: journey time from Riva del Garda to Peschiera takes 2 hours. Railway stations with direct bus links include Rovereto (to Riva del Garda), Verona (to Garda), Peschiera del Garda (to Garda) and Desenzano del Garda (to Salò). Buses are faster alternatives to ferry services. On Lake Garda's eastern coast (provinces of Verona and Trentino), ATV (Verona Transport Company) provides at least


title: "Lake Garda" content: five daily bus routes between Verona and Garda, with one route extending beyond Garda to Riva del Garda. Trentino Transporti provides daily bus routes between Riva del Garda and Rovereto or Trento. On Lake Garda's western coast (Brescia province), SAIA (Brescia Mobilità) provides regular bus services between Desenzano and Salò. Lake Garda Lake Garda ( or "", ; ; ) is the largest lake in Italy. It is a popular holiday location in northern Italy, about halfway between Brescia and Verona, and between Venice and Milan on the edge of the Dolomites. Glaciers formed this alpine region at the end


title: "Same-sex marriage in Canada" content: Same-sex marriage in Canada Same-sex marriage in Canada was progressively introduced in several provinces by court decisions beginning in 2003 before being legally recognized nationwide with the enactment of the "Civil Marriage Act" on July 20, 2005. On June 10, 2003, the Court of Appeal for Ontario issued a decision immediately legalizing same-sex marriage in Ontario, thereby becoming the first province where it was legal. The introduction of a federal gender-neutral marriage definition made Canada the fourth country in the world, and the first country outside Europe, to legally recognize same-sex marriage throughout its borders. Before the federal recognition of


title: "Redhead (bird)" content: Redhead (bird) The redhead ("Aythya americana") is a medium-sized diving duck. The scientific name is derived from Greek "aithuia" an unidentified seabird mentioned by authors including Hesychius and Aristotle, and Latin "americana", of America. The redhead is long with an wingspan. It belongs to the genus Aythya, together with 11 other described species. The redhead and the common pochard form a sister group which together is sister to the canvasback. The redhead goes by many names, including the red-headed duck and the red-headed pochard. This waterfowl is easily distinguished from other ducks by the male’s copper coloured head and bright


title: "Redhead (bird)" content: blue bill during the breeding season. The redhead is in the family Anatidae (ducks, swans, geese) and genus "Aythya" (diving ducks). There are currently no described subspecies of the redhead. The redhead and the common pochard form a sister group which itself is sister to the canvasback. This group is then sister to the monophyletic group consisting of the white-eyes (hardhead, Madagascar pochard, and the sister species ferruginous duck and baer's pochard) and scaups (New Zealand scaup, ring-necked duck, tufted duck, greater scaup, lesser scaup). The redhead is a pochard, a diving duck specially adapted to foraging underwater. Their legs


title: "Redhead (bird)" content: are placed farther back on the body, which makes walking on land difficult, the webbing on their feet is larger than dabbling ducks and their bills are broader, to facilitate underwater foraging. In addition, pochards have a lobed hind toe. No pochard has a metallic coloured speculum, something that is characteristic of other ducks. During breeding season, adult males have a copper head and neck, with a black breast. The back and sides are grey, the belly is white and the rump and tail are a light black. Male bills are pale blue with a black tip and a thin


title: "Redhead (bird)" content: ring separating the two colours. Non breeding males lose the copper colour and instead have brown heads. Adult females, however, have a yellow to brown head and neck. The breast is brown, the belly is white and the rest of the body is a grey to brown. The female bills are slate with a dark tip that is separated by a blue ring. Females remain the same colour year round. During breeding season, redheads are found across a wide range of North America, from as far north as Northern Canada to the lower United States. Their preferred areas include the


title: "Redhead (bird)" content: intermontane regions of British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, and the Dakotas with some small localities in Ontario, Quebec and southern United States. These pochards then migrate south to winter in warmer climates. These areas include southern United States where breeding does not occur and extends to Mexico and Guatemala. In either season, redheads use wetlands as their main habitat. Small, semi-permanent wetlands in non-forested country where the water is deep enough to provide dense emergent vegetation is considered ideal breeding habitat for redheads. When wintering, redheads switch to large areas of water near the coast that are protected from wave


title: "Redhead (bird)" content: action but can also be found in reservoirs, lakes, playa wetlands, freshwater river deltas, coastal marshes, estuaries and bays. Redheads do not have many predators and are most likely to die of disease or indirect human impact. These ducks are not the most common waterfowl, as mallards are, so hunting is minimal. Adults can be preyed upon by northern river otters, red-tailed hawks, great horned owls, bald eagles, golden eagles and to a greater extent, minks. Most predation comes in the form of duckling predation and egg foraging. Northern pike and snapping turtles are known to eat ducklings whereas skunks,


title: "Redhead (bird)" content: minks, crows and magpies will steal and eat redhead eggs. The North American Waterfowl Management Plan for redheads is 760,000 North American birds. The population size has increased in the past few decades to well over 1.4 million birds. Redheads make up 2% of North America's duck population and only 1% of its harvested ducks. Populations may be stable because of restrictive bag limits for the species. In addition, the species uses semi-permanent and permanent wetlands to breed and these habitats are less likely to be affected by drought. For future management of the species, organizations are looking into wetland


title: "Redhead (bird)" content: conservation. Redheads leave their winter range in late January and February with all birds migrating by mid-March. In western North America, migrants begin arriving in Oregon, British Columbia] and Colorado in February. In central North America, migrants arrive as soon as temperatures open wetlands and lakes, which can range from late February (Nebraska) to early May (Alberta, Manitoba and Iowa). In the Great Lakes region and north-eastern North America, migrants will also arrive as soon as bodies of water open up. Western birds migrate through Great Basin to the Pacific Coast. In British Columbia, fall migration begins in September and


title: "Redhead (bird)" content: continues through October. The Great Salt Lake region is of particular importance to migrants in western United States. Central North American redheads will begin migrating earlier, around August/September and go through the Great Plains to the Texas coast. Eastern populations will migrate through the Great Lakes region to the Atlantic Coast or Florida from October to November. Most redheads winter along the Gulf of Mexico (offshore Louisiana, Florida and Mexico) however eastern populations will winter in South Carolina. Redheads flock together on lakes and other bodies of water but will migrate in pairs, which are formed in December or January


title: "Redhead (bird)" content: through elaborate courtship rituals. Unpaired redheads will migrate together in a ‘courting party’ that can be up to 25 individuals strong and hopefully find a mate within the group. The pair bonds are established yearly through a long courtship process. Males begin this process through neck-kinking and head throwing displays while emitting a cat-like call. The male will continue by initiating a neck-stretching display while producing a cough like call, a display and vocalization in which the females reciprocates. If interested, the female will herself produce inciting calls towards the male while performing alternate lateral and chin lifting movements. The


title: "Redhead (bird)" content: male then swims ahead of her and turns the back of his head towards the female. Once courtship is finished, the two birds are paired for the year. Eventually, the male initiates copulation by alternating bill dipping and preening dorsally towards the female, an action in which the female might return to the male. Once copulation is completed, female redheads begin forming nests. They are built with thick and strong plant material in emergent vegetation, such as hard stem bulrush, cattails and sedges, over or near standing water. Redheads to not defend their territory or home range and are actually


title: "Redhead (bird)" content: very social while in their breeding ground. This is thought to occur because some younger, inexperienced redhead females parasitize other pochards. Some redheads lay their eggs in other pochards’ nests, including the canvasback, ring-necked duck and greater and lesser scaups and this social parasitism by redheads reduces the hatching success of other pochards’ eggs, especially those of the canvasback. In contrast, because of the parasitic relationship between the redhead and other pochards, redhead hybrids with the ring-necked duck, canvasback and the greater and lesser scaups have been found. Canvasback x redhead hybrids can be fertile. Brood sizes range from 5-7


title: "Redhead (bird)" content: young, with the mother abandoning the chicks at 8 weeks old, before they are capable of flying. They remain flightless for another 2–4 weeks. There is little information on redhead vocalizations outside of breeding calls. Males will emit calls when courting the female. When the neck is fully extended in the neck-stretching display, males will emit a distinct "wheee-oww," which sounds catlike. Males may also produce a soft coughing call, although this call is less frequent. Females will emit a soft "errrr" note when she is inciting a male. All pochards have similar diets that include both plant and animal


title: "Redhead (bird)" content: materials. Redheads undergo a niche switch when breeding and when wintering. During the breeding season, redheads will eat as much animal matter as possible, including gastropods, mollusks and insect larvae. They will eat the occasional grass and other emergent vegetation. However, once they fly south, redheads will change their diet to include mostly plant material, including pondweeds, wild rice, wild celery, wigeon grass, bulrushes, muskgrass and shoal grass. Gastropods known as food of "Aythya americana" include: "Acteocina canaliculata", "Acteon punctostriatus", "Anachis avara", "Anachis obesa", "Caecum nitidum", "Calliostoma" sp., "Cerithidea pliculosa", "Cerithium lutosum", "Crepidula convexa", "Diastoma varium", "Melanella" sp., "Mitrella lunata",


title: "Redhead (bird)" content: "Nassarius acutus", "Nassarius vibex", "Natica" sp., "Neritina virginea", "Odostomia trifida", "Olivella minuta", "Olivella watermani", "Polinices" sp., Pyramidellidae, "Pyrgocythara plicosa", "Rissoina catesbyana", "Sayella livida", "Turbonilla" sp., "Turbonilla interrupta" and "Vitrinella" sp. Redhead (bird) The redhead ("Aythya americana") is a medium-sized diving duck. The scientific name is derived from Greek "aithuia" an unidentified seabird mentioned by authors including Hesychius and Aristotle, and Latin "americana", of America. The redhead is long with an wingspan. It belongs to the genus Aythya, together with 11 other described species. The redhead and the common pochard form a sister group which together is sister to the canvasback.


title: Canvasback content: Canvasback The canvasback ("Aythya valisineria") is a species of diving duck, the largest found in North America. It ranges from in length and weighs , with a wingspan of . It is the largest species in the genus "Aythya", being similar in size to a mallard but with a heavier and more compact build than it. 191 males wintering in western New York averaged and 54 females there averaged . The canvasback has a distinctive wedge-shaped head and long graceful neck. The adult male (drake) has a black bill, a chestnut red head and neck, a black breast, a grayish


title: Canvasback content: back, black rump, and a blackish brown tail. The drake's sides, back, and belly are white with fine vermiculation resembling the weave of a canvas, which gave rise to the bird's common name. The bill is blackish and the legs and feet are bluish-gray. The iris is bright red in the spring, but duller in the winter. The adult female (hen) also has a black bill, a light brown head and neck, grading into a darker brown chest and foreback. The sides, flanks, and back are grayish brown. The bill is blackish and the legs and feet are bluish-gray. Its


title: Canvasback content: sloping profile distinguishes it from other ducks. The genus name is derived from Greek "aithuia", an unidentified seabird mentioned by authors, including Hesychius and Aristotle. The species name "valisineria" comes from the wild celery "Vallisneria americana", whose winter buds and rhizomes are the canvasback's preferred food during the nonbreeding period. The celery genus is itself named for seventeenth century Italian botanist Antonio Vallisneri. The duck's common name is based on early European inhabitants of North America's assertion that its back was a canvas-like color. In other languages it is just a "white-backed duck"; for example in French, "morillon à dos


title: Canvasback content: blanc", or Spanish, "pato lomo blanco". In Mexico it is called "pato coacoxtle". The breeding habitat of the canvasback is in North America prairie potholes. The bulky nest is built from vegetation in a marsh and lined with down. Loss of nesting habitat has caused populations to decline. The canvasback usually takes a new mate each year, pairing in late winter on ocean bays. It prefers to nest over water on permanent prairie marshes surrounded by emergent vegetation, such as cattails and bulrushes, which provide protective cover. Other important breeding areas are the subarctic river deltas in Saskatchewan and the


title: Canvasback content: interior of Alaska. It has a clutch size of approximately 5–11 eggs, which are greenish drab. The chicks are covered in down at hatching and able to leave the nest soon after. The canvasback sometimes lays its eggs in other canvasback nests and redheads often parasitize canvasback nests. The canvasback migrates through the Mississippi Flyway to wintering grounds in the mid-Atlantic United States and the Lower Mississippi Alluvial Valley (LMAV), or the Pacific Flyway to wintering grounds along the coast of California. Historically, the Chesapeake Bay wintered the majority of canvasbacks, but with the recent loss of submerged aquatic vegetation


title: Canvasback content: (SAV) in the bay, their range has shifted south towards the LMAV. Brackish estuarine bays and marshes with abundant submergent vegetation and invertebrates are ideal wintering habitat for canvasbacks. A small number of birds are also known to have crossed the Atlantic, with several sightings being recorded in the United Kingdom. In December 1996, a canvasback was observed in a quarry in Kent, which was followed by an additional sighting in Norfolk in January 1997. At least five more sightings have since been confirmed in England. The canvasback feeds mainly by diving, sometimes dabbling, mostly eating seeds, buds, leaves, tubers,


title: Canvasback content: roots, snails, and insect larvae. Besides its namesake, wild celery, the canvasback shows a preference for the tubers of sago pondweed, which can make up 100% of its diet at times. The canvasback has large webbed feet adapted for diving and its bill helps it dig tubers from the substrate. In the late 1930s, studies showed that four-fifths of the food eaten by canvasbacks was plant material. Wild canvasback was a popular table delicacy in fashionable society in the nineteenth century. In the early 1950s it was estimated that there were 225,000 canvasbacks wintering in the Chesapeake Bay; this represented


title: Canvasback content: one-half of the entire North American population. By 1985, there were only 50,000 ducks wintering there, or one-tenth of the population. Canvasbacks were extensively hunted around the start of the 20th century, but federal hunting regulations now restrict their harvest, so hunting is ruled out as a cause for the decline. Scientists have now concluded that the decline in duck populations was due to the decline in SAV acreage. Today the population has stabilized and is even increasing slightly, although it is nowhere near previous levels. Studies have now shown that by the 1970s four-fifths of the ducks' diet was


title: Canvasback content: made up of Baltic Clams, which are very common in the Chesapeake Bay: the ducks have been able to adapt to the decline in SAV by changing their diet. Redheads, which also feed on SAV tubers, have not been able to adapt, and their population remains low. Populations have fluctuated widely. Low levels in 1980s put the canvasback on lists of special concern, but numbers increased greatly in the 1990s. The canvasback is particularly vulnerable to drought and wetland drainage on the prairies of North America. Many species of ducks, including the canvasback, are highly migratory, but are effectively conserved


title: Canvasback content: by protecting the places where they nest, even though they may be hunted away from their breeding grounds. Protecting key feeding and breeding grounds is key for conserving many types of migratory birds. Canvasback The canvasback ("Aythya valisineria") is a species of diving duck, the largest found in North America. It ranges from in length and weighs , with a wingspan of . It is the largest species in the genus "Aythya", being similar in size to a mallard but with a heavier and more compact build than it. 191 males wintering in western New York averaged and 54 females


title: "Ring-necked duck" content: Ring-necked duck The ring-necked duck ("Aythya collaris") is a diving duck from North America commonly found in freshwater ponds and lakes. The scientific name is derived from Greek " aithuia" an unidentified seabird mentioned by authors including Hesychius and Aristotle, and Latin "collaris", "of the neck" from "collum", "neck". Ring-necked ducks are small to medium-sized diving ducks. The adult male is similar in color pattern to the Eurasian tufted duck, its relative. Males are a little bit bigger than the female. It has two white rings surrounding its gray bill, a shiny black angular head, black back, white line on


title: "Ring-necked duck" content: the wings, a white breast and yellow eyes. The adult female has a grayish brown angular head and body with a dark brown back, a dark bill with a more subtle light band than the male, grayish-blue feet and brown eyes with white rings surrounding them. Females also make a noise like "trrr". The cinnamon neck ring is usually difficult to observe, which is why the bird is sometimes referred to as a "ringbill". Their breeding habitat is wooded lakes or ponds in the northern United States and Canada. The main breeding area is Northwest boreal forest territories. Their breeding


title: "Ring-necked duck" content: habits also take place in the eastern boreal region of Canada but no where near the same amount in the northwestern region. Winter months they are usually found in southern North America in lakes, ponds, rivers or bays. Ring-necked duck pairs start during spring migration. Unpaired ducks showing up on breeding grounds will most likely end up being non-breeders. The pairs stay together only for reproduction, until then, they separate. The nest is bowl-shaped, built on water in dense emergent vegetation with sedges and woody plants. The female lays one egg per day until 8 to 10 eggs are laid.


title: "Ring-necked duck" content: They are incubated 25–29 days and the female may remain with the young until they are able to fly. These birds are omnivores and feed mainly by diving or dabbling at the surface. Ducklings are dependent on animal matter such as insects, earthworms, leeches, midges and snails. As they mature they tend change their diet to submerged plants such as pondweed and coontail, and emergents such as annual wild rice and snails. This strong migrant is a rare but regular vagrant to western Europe. In Britain, occasional small flocks occur, including five at Loch Leven, Scotland in September 2003 and


title: "Ring-necked duck" content: four at Standlake in Oxfordshire in April 2015. In Ireland one or two individuals can be seen at any time of year. Vagrant individuals also occur each year in Central America as far south as Costa Rica between October/November and May/June. Ring-necked duck The ring-necked duck ("Aythya collaris") is a diving duck from North America commonly found in freshwater ponds and lakes. The scientific name is derived from Greek " aithuia" an unidentified seabird mentioned by authors including Hesychius and Aristotle, and Latin "collaris", "of the neck" from "collum", "neck". Ring-necked ducks are small to medium-sized diving ducks. The adult


title: "France national football team" content: to the FIFA Confederations Cup. Dominique Rocheteau and José Touré scored the goals. In a span of a year, France were holders of three of the four major international trophies. At the 1986 World Cup, France were favorites to win the competition, and, for the second consecutive World Cup, reached the semi-finals where they faced West Germany. Again, however, they lost. A 4–2 victory over Belgium gave France third place. In 1988, the FFF opened the Clairefontaine National Football Institute. Its opening ceremony was attended by then-President of France, François Mitterrand. Five months after Clairefontaine's opening, manager Henri Michel was


title: "Christian Bök" content: Calgary. In 1994, Bök published "Crystallography", "a pataphysical encyclopaedia that misreads the language of poetics through the conceits of geology." The "Village Voice" said of it: "Bök's concise reflections on mirrors, fractals, stones, and ice diabolically change the way you think about language — his, yours — so that what begins as description suddenly seems indistinguishable from the thing itself." "Crystallography" was reissued in 2003, and was nominated for a Gerald Lampert Award. Bök is a sound poet and has performed an extremely condensed version of the "Ursonate" by Kurt Schwitters. He has created conceptual art, making artist's books from


title: Souvlaki content: Souvlaki Souvlaki (Greek: ), plural souvlakia, is a popular Greek fast food consisting of small pieces of meat and sometimes vegetables grilled on a skewer. It is usually eaten straight off the skewer while still hot. It can be served with pita bread, fried potatoes, lemon, and sauces, but the souvlaki itself is eaten on its own, with the side dishes eaten subsequently. The meat usually used in Greece and Cyprus is pork, although chicken, beef, and lamb may also be used. In other countries (and for tourists), souvlaki may be made with meats such as lamb, beef, chicken, and


title: Souvlaki content: sometimes fish. The word "souvlaki" is a diminutive of the Medieval Greek σούβλα "souvla" 'skewer', itself borrowed from Latin "subula". 'Souvlaki' is the common term in Hellenic Macedonia and other regions of northern Greece, while in southern Greece around Athens it is commonly known as 'kalamaki', 'reed'. As in other parts of the world, the practice of cooking food on spits or skewers has an ancient history in Greek culture. Excavations in Santorini, Greece, unearthed sets of stone cooking supports used before the 17th century BC. In the supports there are pairs of indentations that were likely used for holding


title: Souvlaki content: skewers. The line of holes in the base allowed the coals to be supplied with oxygen. Mycenaean Greeks used portable trays as grills. These trays were rectangular ceramic pans that sat underneath skewers of meat. It is not clear whether these trays would have been placed directly over a fire or if the pans would have held hot coals like a portable barbecue pit. Homer in "Iliad" (1.465) mentions pieces of meat roasted on spits (ὀβελός). This is also mentioned in the works of Aristophanes, Xenophon, Aristotle, and others. In Classical Greece, a small spit or skewer was known as


title: Souvlaki content: ὀβελίσκος ("obeliskos"), and Aristophanes mentions such skewers being used to roast thrushes. Modern-day "souvlaki" was described in the mid-19th century by a French traveler in the Boeotia region, but was not widely distributed in Greece until after World War II. Souvlaki skewers served as fast food started to be sold widely in the 1960s, after being introduced by vendors from Boeotia. The first known use of the word "souvlaki" in English was 1942. The issue of whether modern-day souvlaki skewers came to Greece via Turkish cuisine, and should be considered a Greek styling of shish kebab, or is a contemporary


title: Souvlaki content: revival of Greek tradition dating as far back as 17th century BC Minoan civilization, is a topic of sometimes heated debate, at least between Greeks and Turks. Kalamaki ("small reed") is a synonym for souvlaki proper in Athens, where the word "Souvlaki" is used colloquially for any kind of pita wraps. "Merída" means "portion". While souvlaki is eaten plain on hand as a fast food, it is also served as a full plate, served with fried potatoes, vegetables, sauce, and quartered pita bread. Usually it consists of the ingredients of a souvlaki-pita (see below), but laid out on a plate,


title: Souvlaki content: instead of wrapped together for eating on hand. Pita is a form of partially leavened, flat, round bread with a diameter of approximately , used to wrap souvlaki or gyros. It comes pre-baked and will additionally be grilled on the meat drippings just before serving, unless the customer requests it not to be. A souvlaki-pita consists of souvlaki meat garnished with sliced tomatoes and onions, fried potatoes, tzatziki, and wrapped in a lightly grilled pita. Salads like ketchup and mustard, ktipiti, Russian salad or melitzanosalata can also be used as an extra option. When chicken is used instead of pork


title: Souvlaki content: meat, tzatziki and onions are replaced with a special sauce and lettuce to be compatible with its taste; Various other garnishes and sauces are possible, including shredded lettuce, paprika, fried potatoes, ketchup, and mustard. In Athens and southern Greece it is called pita-kalamaki. Any of these components may not be included, at the request of the customer. Hungry customers may occasionally request a two-pita wrapping ("diplopito") and/or a double meat serving ("dikalamo"). In Corfu, a special tomato sauce is added to souvlaki, plainly called "red sauce" (κόκκινη σάλτσα). In Cyprus, souvlaki can refer both to the small chunks of meat


title: Souvlaki content: on a skewer, and to the dish. It is made with a large pita that has a pocket-style opening. Into this is placed the meat (traditionally lamb or pork, more recently sheftalia or chicken), which in Cypriot souvlaki is cut into slightly larger chunks. Tomatoes, cucumbers and shredded white cabbage are the usual salad additions. Onion, parsley, and pickled green chili peppers are popular accompaniments, as are yogurt and tzatziki. Cut lemons are always included with souvlaki, as they are with all grilled meats in Cyprus. Lettuce is not traditional and is seldom used in souvlaki outside of tourist resorts.


title: "Billy Connolly" content: many dog owners use the same tactic when they do not wish their pet to become upset about an impending trip to the vet. Connolly's song is about a couple whose marriage is ruined by a bad vet visit (spelling out "W-O-R-M" or "Q-U-A-R-A-N-T-I-N-E", for example.) His song "No Chance" was a parody of J. J. Barrie's cover of the song "No Charge". In 1985, he sang the theme song to "Super Gran", which was released as a single and, in 1996, he performed a cover of Ralph McTell's "In the Dreamtime" as the theme to his "World Tour of


title: Downtown content: more and more business was done downtown, those who had their homes there were gradually pushed out, selling their property and moving to quieter residential areas uptown. The skyscraper would become the hallmark of the downtown area. Prior to the invention of the elevator – and later the high-speed elevator – buildings were limited in height to about six stories, which was a "de facto" limit set by the amount of stairs it was assumed that people would climb, but with the elevator, that limit was shattered, and buildings began to be constructed up to about sixteen stories. What limited


title: "Isatis tinctoria" content: Isatis tinctoria Isatis tinctoria, also called woad (), dyer's woad, or glastum, is a flowering plant in the family Brassicaceae. It is occasionally known as Asp of Jerusalem. Woad is also the name of a blue dye produced from the leaves of the plant. Woad is native to the steppe and desert zones of the Caucasus, Central Asia to eastern Siberia and Western Asia (per Hegi) but is now also found in southeastern and Central Europe and western North America. Since ancient times, woad was an important source of blue dye and was cultivated throughout Europe, especially in Western and


title: "Isatis tinctoria" content: Southern Europe. In medieval times there were important woad-growing regions in England, Germany and France. Towns such as Toulouse became prosperous from the woad trade. Woad was eventually replaced by the more colorfast "Indigofera tinctoria" and, in the early 20th century, both woad and "Indigofera tinctoria" were replaced by synthetic blue dyes. Woad has been used in traditional Chinese medicine for centuries. There has also been some revival of the use of woad for craft purposes. The first archaeological finds of woad seeds date to the Neolithic. The seeds have been found in the French cave of l'Audoste, Bouches-du-Rhône, France.


title: "Isatis tinctoria" content: Impressions of seeds of "Färberwaid" (Isatis tinctoria L.) or German indigo, of the plant family Brassicaceae, have been found on pottery in the Iron Age settlement of Heuneburg, Germany. Seed and pod fragments have also been found in Iron Age pit at Dragonby, North Lincolnshire, United Kingdom. The Hallstatt burials of the Hochdorf Chieftain's Grave and Hohmichele contained textiles dyed with woad dye. Melo and Rondão write that woad was known "as far back as the time of the ancient Egyptians, who used it to dye the cloth wrappings applied for the mummies." Skelton informs us that one of the


title: "Isatis tinctoria" content: early dyes discovered by the ancient Egyptians was "blue woad (Isatis tinctoria)." Lucas writes, "What has been assumed to have been Indian Indigo on ancient Egyptian fabrics may have been woad." Hall states that the ancient Egyptians created their blue dye "by using indigotin, otherwise known as woad." Celtic blue is a shade of blue, also known as glas celtig in Welsh, or gorm ceilteach in Scottish Gaelic. Julius Caesar reported (in Commentarii de Bello Gallico) that the Britanni used to colour their bodies blue with vitrum, a word that roughly translates to "glass", but has also been translated as


title: "Isatis tinctoria" content: "woad" (Isatis tinctoria). Carr suggests the translation of: "dye themselves with glazes" or "'infect themselves (or 'work into themselves') with glass'". The latter could refer to using glass in the tattooing process or to scarification. It has also been claimed that Caesar was referring to some form of copper- or iron-based pigment. Analysis done on the Lindow Man did return evidence of copper. The same study also noted that the earliest definite reference to the woad plant in the British Isles dates to a seed impression on an Anglo-Saxon pot. The authors theorized that vitrum could have actually referred to


title: "Isatis tinctoria" content: copper(II) sulfate's naturally occurring variant chalcanthite or to the mineral azurite. A later study concluded the amount was "not of sufficient magnitude to provide convincing evidence that the copper was deliberately applied as paint". In terms of usage, vitrum is more often used to refer to glass rather than woad. Woad was an important dyeing agent in much of Europe and parts of England during the medieval period. However, dye traders began to import indigo during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, which threatened to replace locally grown woad as the primary blue dye. The translation of vitrum as woad may


title: "Isatis tinctoria" content: date to this period. Due to this and other Roman accounts of them painting or tattooing their bodies, northern inhabitants of Britain came to be known as Picts (Picti), meaning "painted ones" in Latin. People with modern experiences with woad as a tattoo pigment have claimed that it does not work well, and is actually caustic and causes scarring when put into the skin. Gillian Carr conducted experiments using indigo pigment derived from woad mixed with different binders to make body paint. The resulting paints yielded colors from "grey-blue, through intense midnight blue, to black". See National Anthem of the


title: "Isatis tinctoria" content: Ancient Britons. Woad was one of the three staples of the European dyeing industry, along with weld (yellow) and madder (red). Chaucer mentions their use by the dyer ("litestere") in his poem "The Former Age": The three colors can be seen together in tapestries such as "The Hunt of the Unicorn" (1495–1505), though typically it is the dark blue of the woad that has lasted best. In Viking age levels at archaeological digs at York, a dye shop with remains of both woad and madder have been excavated and dated to the 10th century. In medieval times, centres of woad


title: "Isatis tinctoria" content: cultivation lay in Lincolnshire and Somerset in England, Jülich and the Erfurt area in Thuringia in Germany, Piedmont and Tuscany in Italy, and Gascogne, Normandy, the Somme Basin (from Amiens to Saint-Quentin), Brittany and, above all, Languedoc in France. This last region, in the triangle created by Toulouse, Albi, and Carcassonne, was for a long time the most productive of woad, or "pastel" as it was known there, one writer commenting that "woad... hath made that country the happiest and richest in Europe." The prosperous woad merchants of Toulouse displayed their affluence in splendid mansions, many of which still stand,


title: "Isatis tinctoria" content: as Hôtel de Bernuy and Hôtel d'Assézat. One merchant, Jean de Bernuy, a Spanish Jew who had fled the inquisition, was credit-worthy enough to be the main guarantor of the ransomed King Francis I after his capture at the Battle of Pavia by Charles V of Spain. Much of the woad produced here was used for the cloth industry in southern France, but it was also exported via Bayonne, Narbonne and Bordeaux to Flanders, the Low Countries, Italy, and above all Britain and Spain. A major market for woad was at Görlitz in Silesia. The citizens of the five Thuringian


title: "Isatis tinctoria" content: Färberwaid (dye woad) towns of Erfurt, Gotha, Tennstedt, Arnstadt and Langensalza had their own charters. In Erfurt, the woad-traders gave the funds to found the University of Erfurt. Traditional fabric is still printed with woad in Thuringia, Saxony and Lusatia today: it is known as "Blaudruck" (literally, "blue print(ing)"). Medieval uses of the dye were not limited to textiles. For example, the illustrator of the "Lindisfarne Gospels" used a woad-based pigment for blue paint. The dye chemical extracted from woad is indigo, the same dye extracted from "true indigo", "Indigofera tinctoria", but in a lower concentration. Following the European discovery


title: "Isatis tinctoria" content: of the seaway to India, great amounts of indigo were imported from Asia. Laws were passed in some parts of Europe to protect the woad industry from the competition of the indigo trade. It was proclaimed that indigo caused yarns to rot: "In 1577 the German government officially prohibited the use of indigo, denouncing it as that pernicious, deceitful and corrosive substance, the Devil's dye." "... a recess of the Diet held in 1577 prohibited the use of 'the newly-invented, deceitful, eating and corrosive dye called the devil's dye.'" This prohibition was repeated in 1594 and again in 1603. In


title: "Isatis tinctoria" content: France, Henry IV, in an edict of 1609, forbade under pain of death the use of "the false and pernicious Indian drug". With the development of a chemical process to synthesize the pigment, both the woad and natural indigo industries collapsed in the first years of the 20th century. The last commercial harvest of woad until recent times occurred in 1932, in Lincolnshire, Britain. Small amounts of woad are now grown in the UK and France to supply craft dyers. The classic book about woad is "The Woad Plant and its Dye" by J. B. Hurry, Oxford University Press of


title: "Isatis tinctoria" content: 1930, which contains an extensive bibliography. A method for producing blue dye from woad is described in "The History of Woad and the Medieval Woad Vat" (1998) . Woad is biodegradable and safe in the environment. In Germany, there have been attempts to use it to protect wood against decay without applying dangerous chemicals. Production of woad is increasing in the UK for use in inks, particularly for inkjet printers, and dyes. The plant can cause problems, however: "Isatis tinctoria" is classified as an invasive species in parts of the United States. Indigowoad root () is a traditional Chinese medicine


title: "Isatis tinctoria" content: herb that comes from the roots of woad. Literature on traditional Chinese medicine uses the scientific name "Isatis indigotica", although this name is usually considered synonymous with "Isatis tinctoria" by botanists. It is also known as "Radix isatidis". The herb is cultivated in various regions of northern China, namely Hebei, Beijing, Heilongjiang, Henan, Jiangsu, and Gansu. The roots are harvested during the autumn and dried. The dried root is processed into granules, which are most commonly consumed dissolved in hot water or tea. The product is very popular throughout China. Possible minor side effects include allergic reactions and dizziness; only


title: "Isatis tinctoria" content: large dosages or long term usage can be toxic to the kidneys. Treatments have not generally been evaluated clinically. In certain locations, the plant is classified as a non-native and invasive weed. It is listed as a noxious weed by the agriculture departments of several states in the western United States: Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming. In Montana, it has been the target of an extensive, and largely successful, eradication attempt. 24. Renate Kaiser-Alexnat: "Wonder Woad. Experiences involving human and plant – especially woad – reported in pictures and stories". epubli GmbH,


title: "Isatis tinctoria" content: Berlin, 2013. Isatis tinctoria Isatis tinctoria, also called woad (), dyer's woad, or glastum, is a flowering plant in the family Brassicaceae. It is occasionally known as Asp of Jerusalem. Woad is also the name of a blue dye produced from the leaves of the plant. Woad is native to the steppe and desert zones of the Caucasus, Central Asia to eastern Siberia and Western Asia (per Hegi) but is now also found in southeastern and Central Europe and western North America. Since ancient times, woad was an important source of blue dye and was cultivated throughout Europe, especially in


title: "John Bright" content: was formed six years ago, disables me from taking an impartial view of this great question. If I could believe them honorable and truthful men, I could yield much—but I suspect that your policy of surrender to them will only place more power in their hands to war with greater effect against the unity of the 3 Kingdoms with no increase of good to the Irish people. ... Parliament is not ready for it, and the intelligence of the country is not ready for it. If it be possible, I should wish that no Division should be taken upon the


title: "John de Vere, 13th Earl of Oxford" content: the accession of King Henry VIII Oxford continued in high favour, and officiated as Lord Great Chamberlain at the coronation. He resided at Wivenhoe and Castle Hedingham in Essex, and added to the 12th-century keep of the latter and constructed a new great hall and several towers. His jousting helm is in the Bargello in Florence. According to Gunn, he 'kept an outstanding chapel choir', and commissioned Caxton's edition of "The Four Sons of Aymon" in 1489. Oxford also kept a playing company whose recorded performances span the years 1492–1499. Oxford died on 10 March 1513 at Castle Hedingham and


title: "Bounty hunter" content: and approved firearms, including handguns and long guns which are permitted. Recently Connecticut State Police converted its Bail Enforcement Agent licensing unit to reflect the important role Bail Enforcement Agents play in the Connecticut criminal justice system; placing them in the newly defined Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection. Several schools in Connecticut have obtained certification by the Connecticut State Police to pre-license Bail Enforcement Agents in a minimum of 20 hours of criminal justice training and a minimum of eight hours of firearms training. Some of the more advanced schools offer specialized training in the area of tactical


title: Garganey content: Garganey The garganey ("Spatula querquedula") is a small dabbling duck. It breeds in much of Europe and western Asia, but is strictly migratory, with the entire population moving to southern Africa, India (in particular Santragachi), and Australasia in winter, where large flocks can occur. This species was first described by Linnaeus in 1758. Like other small ducks such as the common teal, this species rises easily from the water with a fast twisting wader-like flight. Their breeding habitat is grassland adjacent to shallow marshes and steppe lakes. The first formal description of the Garganey was by the Swedish naturalist Carl


title: Garganey content: Linnaeus in 1758 in the tenth edition of his "Systema Naturae". He introduced the binomial name "Anas querquedula". A molecular phylogentic study comparing mitochondrial DNA sequences published in 2009 found that the genus "Anas", as then defined, was non-monophyletic. The genus was subsequently split into four monophyletic genera with ten species including the Garganey moved into the resurrected genus "Spatula". This genus had been originally proposed by the German zoologist Friedrich Boie in 1822. The name "Spatula" is the Latin for a "spoon" or "spatula". The specific epithet is derived from Latin "querquedula", a word believed to represent to its


title: Garganey content: call. The common English name dates from the 17th century and comes from Lombard language "gargenei", the plural of "garganell", which ultimately comes from the Late Latin "gargala" "tracheal artery". The English usage owes its origins to Conrad Gesner who used the Italian name in the third volume of his "Historiae Animalium" (History of Animals) of 1555. The adult male is unmistakable, with its brown head and breast with a broad white crescent over the eye. The rest of the plumage is grey, with loose grey scapular feathers It has a grey bill and legs. In flight it shows a


title: Garganey content: pale blue speculum with a white border. When swimming it will show prominent white edges on its tertials. His crown (anatomy) is dark and face is reddish brown. Some care is needed in separating the brown female from the similar common teal, but the stronger face markings and more frequent head-shaking when dabbling are good indicators. Confusion with the female of the blue-winged teal is also possible, but the head and bill shape is different, and the latter species has yellow legs. Pale eyebrow, dark eye line, pale lore spot bordered by a second dark line. These birds feed mainly


title: Garganey content: by skimming rather than upending. The male has a distinctive crackling mating call; the female is rather silent for a female duck, but can manage a feeble "quack". Garganey are rare breeding birds in the British Isles, with most breeding in quiet marshes in Norfolk and Suffolk. In Ireland a few pairs now breed in Wexford, with occasional breeding elsewhere. The garganey is one of the species to which the "Agreement on the Conservation of African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds" (AEWA) applies. The status of the garganey on the IUCN Red List is Least Concern. Garganey The garganey ("Spatula querquedula") is a


title: Baker content: Baker A baker is someone who bakes and sometimes sells breads and other products made using an oven or other concentrated heat source. The place where a baker works is called a bakery. Bakers normally bake breads, cakes, pies, pastries and other general items made of flour. Since grains have been a staple food for millennia, the activity of baking is a very old one. Control of yeast, however, is relatively recent. By the fifth and sixth centuries BCE, the ancient Greeks used enclosed ovens heated by wood fires; communities usually baked bread in a large communal oven. Greeks baked


title: Baker content: dozens and possibly hundreds of types of bread; Athenaeus described seventy-two varieties. In ancient Rome several centuries later, the first mass production of breads occurred, and "the baking profession can be said to have started at that time." Ancient Roman bakers used honey and oil in their products, creating pastries rather than breads. In ancient Rome, bakers (Latin, "pistor") were sometimes slaves, who were (like other slave-artisans) sometimes manumitted. Large households in Rome normally had their own bakers. The Gauls are credited with discovering that the addition of beer froth to bread dough made well-leavened bread, marking the use of


title: Baker content: controlled yeast for bread dough. In medieval Europe, baking ovens were often separated from other buildings (and sometimes located outside city walls) to mitigate the risk of fire. Because bread was an important staple food, bakers' production factors (such as bolting yields, ingredients, and loaf sizes) were heavily regulated. For example, Henry III of England promulgated the Assize of Bread and Ale in 1267, subjecting all commercial bakers and brewers to various fees in order to practice their trade and imposing various regulations, such as inspection and verification of weights and measures, quality control, and price controls. Soon after the


title: Baker content: enactment of the Assize, "baking became a very stable industry, and was executed much more professionally than brewing, resulting in towns and villages having fewer bakers than brewers." Because ovens were expensive capital investments and required careful operation, specialized bakeries opened. Bakers were often part of the guild system, which was well-established by the sixteenth century: master bakers instructed apprentices and were assisted by journeymen. In Amsterdam in 1694, for example, the cake-bakers, pie-bakers, and rusk-bakers separated from an earlier Bread Bakers Guild and formed their own guild, regulating the trade. A fraternity of bakers in London existed as early


title: Baker content: as 1155, according to records of payments to the Exchequer; the Worshipful Company of Bakers was formed by charters dated 1486, 1569, and 1685. The guild still exists today, with mostly ceremonial and charitable functions. Five bakers have served as lord mayor of London. The Columbian Exchange, which began in 1492, had a profound influence on the baking occupation. Access to sugar greatly increased as a result of new cultivation in the Caribbean, and ingredients such as cocoa and chocolate became available in the Old World. In the eighteenth century, processors learned how to refine sugar from sugar beets, allowing


title: Baker content: Europeans to grow sugar locally. These developments led to an increase in the sophistication of baking and pastries, and the development of new products such as puff pastries and Danish dough. Two important books on bread-baking were published in the 1770s: Paul-Jacques Malaouin published "L'art du meinier, du boulanger et du vermicellier" ("The Art of the Miller, the Bread-Baker, and the Pasta-Maker") in 1775, and Antoine-Augustin Parmentier published "Le parfair boulanger" ("The Perfect Bread-Baker") in 1778. A study of the English city of Manchester from 1824–85, during the Industrial Revolution, determined that "baker and shopkeeper" was the third-most common occupation,


title: Baker content: with 178 male bakers, 19 female bakers, and eight bakers of unknown sex in the city at that time. This occupation was less common that cloth manufacturer and tavern/public house worker, but more common than cotton spinner, merchant, calico printer, or grocer. In 1895, the New York State Assembly passed a reformist "bakeshop law" which included protections for bakery workers; the law "banned employees from sleeping in the bakeries; specified the drainage, plumbing and maintenance necessary to keep the bakeries sanitary (cats were specifically allowed to stay on the premise—presumably to deal with the rats); limited the daily and weekly


title: Baker content: maximum of hours worked; and established an inspectorate to make sure these conditions were met." The legislation was soon replicated in other states. Joseph Lochner, a bakery owner in Utica, New York, was subsequently convicted of violating the law for forcing his employees to work more than sixty hours a week. He appealed his case to the U.S. Supreme Court, which decided, in the highly influential case of "Lochner v. New York" (1905), over a dissent from Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, that the labor law violated a constitutional right to "freedom of contract." This case marked the beginning of a


title: Baker content: "pro-employer, laissez-faire" era, later known as the "Lochner" era, which "would cast a long shadow over American law, society, and politics" until the late 1930s, when "Lochner" was repudiated. Frustrated with the rapid deterioration of working conditions, bakery workers in New York went on strike in August 1905. In Roman Catholic tradition, the patron saint of bakers and pastry chefs is Honoratus of Amiens (Honoré), a sixth-century bishop of Amiens in northern France for whom the St. Honoré cake is named. Lazarus of Bethany (Lazare) was originally a competitor to Honoré for the title of patron saint of bakers, but


title: Baker content: in the 17th century the French bakers' guild settled in favor of Honoré. "Baker" is an easily recognizable English surname of medieval occupational origin; "Baxster" is the female form. Equivalent family names of occupational origin meaning "baker" exist in other languages: "Boulanger", "Bulinger", "Dufour", and "Fournier" in French, "Pfister" and "Becker" in German, and "Piekarz" in Polish. According to the "Occupational Outlook Handbook" ("OOH") published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the United States Department of Labor, Bakers encounter a number of occupational hazards. "OOH" reports that bakeries, "especially large manufacturing facilities, are filled with potential dangers such as


title: Baker content: hot ovens, mixing machines, and dough cutters. As a result, bakers have a higher rate of injuries and illnesses than the national average. Although their work is generally safe, bakers may endure back strains caused by lifting or moving heavy bags of flour or other products. Other common risks include cuts, scrapes, and burns. To reduce these risks, bakers often wear back supports, aprons, and gloves." Baker's asthma—commonly caused by flour allergens and the microbial enzymes (often "Aspergillus"-derived) used to facilitate breadmaking—is one of the common causes of occupational asthma worldwide. Both bakers and pastry chefs make desserts and breads.


title: Baker content: In some restaurants and shops, a single individual serves in both roles. In other environments, there is a distinction between the two positions, with bakers making breads, rolls, and muffins, and pastry chefs making desserts, such as cakes, pies, tarts, and cookies. Even when both bakers and pastry chefs work in the same place, however, there may be overlap. A variety of equipment is used by bakers, including: According to the "Occupational Outlook Handbook" published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the United States Department of Labor, there were 185,300 bakers in the U.S. in 2014, with median pay


title: Baker content: of $23,600 per year or $11.35 per hour. About 28% of U.S. bakers work in stand-alone bakeries or in tortilla manufacturing; 26% work in grocery stores; 15% work in restaurants and other eating places; and 5% were self-employed. About 30% of U.S. bakers worked part-time in 2014. Baker A baker is someone who bakes and sometimes sells breads and other products made using an oven or other concentrated heat source. The place where a baker works is called a bakery. Bakers normally bake breads, cakes, pies, pastries and other general items made of flour. Since grains have been a staple


title: "Culture of Bulgaria" content: early as 1857. The first theatrical performances on the Bulgarian stage are also not Soldiers. These are the comedy "Mihal", translated by Greek and adapted for the Bulgarian audience by Sava Dobroplodni, who organized her performance in Shumen, and the dramas "Multitudes Genoveva" and "Belisarius", placed by Krastyu Pishurka in Lom. All three titles were first played in 1856. Vazov tells of theater in the 70s of the 19th century. Until then, dozens of theatrical and pre-theatrical performances have been performed. The first of them began to be organized in the 1940s and 1950s. Even then there are traces of


title: "White-throated sparrow" content: White-throated sparrow The white-throated sparrow ("Zonotrichia albicollis") is a passerine bird of the American sparrow family Passerellidae. The genus name "Zonotrichia" is from Ancient Greek "zone", "band", and "thrix, trikhos", "hair". The specific "albicollis" is from Latin "albus", white, and "collum", "neck". The white-throated sparrow is a passerine bird of the American sparrow family Passerellidae. It measures in length with a wingspan of . Typical weight is , with an average of . Among standard measurements, the wing chord is , the tail is , the bill is and the tarsus is . They are similar in appearance to the


title: "White-throated sparrow" content: white-crowned sparrow, but with white throat markings and yellow lores. There are two adult plumage variations known as the tan-striped and white-striped forms. On the white-striped form the crown is black with a white central stripe. The supercilium is white as well. The auriculars are gray with the upper edge forming a black eye line. On the tan form, the crown is dark brown with a tan central stripe. The supercilium is tan as well. The auriculars are gray/light brown with the upper edge forming a brown eye line. Both variations feature dark eyes, a white throat, yellow lores and


title: "White-throated sparrow" content: gray bill. There is variation and some individuals may show dark lateral stripes of each side of the throat. They almost always pair with the opposite color morph for breeding. The two color morphs occur in approximately equal numbers. Both male and female white-striped birds are more aggressive than tan-striped birds during the breeding season. The breast has gray/tan streaks and the streaks continue down the flanks but the belly is generally light gray. The wings are rufous with two distinct white wing bars. Sexes are morphologically similar. White-throated sparrows breed in central Canada and New England. They nest either


title: "White-throated sparrow" content: on the ground under shrubs or low in trees in deciduous or mixed forest areas and lay three to five brown-marked blue or green-white eggs. In winter, this species migrates to the southern and eastern United States. It stays year round in the Atlantic provinces of Canada. This bird is a rare vagrant to western Europe. Alongside some other species such as the cardinal, dark-eyed junco, song sparrow and chickadees, this species ranks among the most abundant native birds during winter in eastern North America. Despite a high level of con-specific rivalry within white-throated sparrows, this species is often dominated


title: "White-throated sparrow" content: by other seed-eating winter residents, even those that are no larger than itself like the song sparrow, and thus may endure high levels of predation while foraging since restricted to sub-optimal sites at times by competition. Not to mention numerous mammalian carnivores, at least ten avian predators often hunt them and they are among the most regular prey species for some smaller raptors, i.e. the sharp-shinned hawk and eastern screech-owl. These birds forage on the ground under or near thickets or in low vegetation. They mainly eat seeds, insects and berries, and are attracted to bird feeders. There are at


title: "White-throated sparrow" content: least two distinct songs sung by this species. One consists of an initial note, followed by three or so repeated notes at an interval of about a major third above. The second song consists of an initial note, a second a whole step lower, and a third note, repeated two or three times, about a minor third below that. This second song is commonly described by use of mnemonics with the cadence of "Po-or Sam Peabody, Peabody, Peabody" (or "O-oh sweet Canada, Canada, Canada") The rhythm is very regular, and the timbre could be described as pinched. These musical intervals


title: "White-throated sparrow" content: are only approximate; to a human ear the song often sounds out of tune. The repeated note will often change in pitch very slightly, contributing to this effect. The white-throated sparrow also has at least two calls, in addition to its song. White-throated sparrow The white-throated sparrow ("Zonotrichia albicollis") is a passerine bird of the American sparrow family Passerellidae. The genus name "Zonotrichia" is from Ancient Greek "zone", "band", and "thrix, trikhos", "hair". The specific "albicollis" is from Latin "albus", white, and "collum", "neck". The white-throated sparrow is a passerine bird of the American sparrow family Passerellidae. It measures in


title: "Jersey Devil" content: Cornbury about this time. Considering Leeds as a traitor for aiding the Crown and rejecting Quaker beliefs, the Quaker Burlington Meeting of southern New Jersey subsequently dismissed Leeds as "evil". During 1716, Daniel Leeds' son, Titan Leeds, inherited his father's almanac business, which continued to use astrological content and eventually competed with Benjamin Franklin's popular "Poor Richard's Almanac". The competition between the two men intensified when, during 1733, Franklin satirically used astrology in his almanac to predict Titan Leeds' death on October of that same year. Though Franklin's prediction was intended as a joke at his competitor's expense and a


title: "Northern gannet" content: Northern gannet The northern gannet ("Morus bassanus") is a seabird, the largest species of the gannet family, Sulidae. It is native to the coasts of the Atlantic Ocean, breeding in Western Europe and North America. The sexes are similar in appearance. The adult northern gannet has a mainly white streamlined body with a long neck, long and slender wings. It is long with a wingspan. The head and nape have a buff tinge that is more prominent in breeding season, and the wings are edged with dark brown-black feathers. The long pointed bill is blue-grey, contrasting with black bare skin


title: "Northern gannet" content: around the mouth and eyes. Juveniles are mostly grey-brown, becoming increasingly white in the five years it takes them to reach maturity. Nesting takes place in colonies on both sides of the north Atlantic, the largest of which are at Bass Rock (75,000 pairs as of 2014), St Kilda (60,000 pairs as of 2013) and Ailsa Craig (33,000 pairs as of 2014) in Scotland, Grassholm in Wales, and Bonaventure Island (60,000 pairs in 2009) off the coast of Quebec. Its breeding range has extended northward and eastward, colonies being established on Russia's Kola Peninsula in 1995 and Bear Island, southernmost


title: "Northern gannet" content: island of Svalbard, in 2011. Colonies are mostly located on offshore islands with cliffs, from which the birds can more easily launch into the air. The northern gannet undertakes seasonal migrations and hunts for the fish that form the bulk of its diet by high-speed dives into the sea. The gannet was previously hunted for food in parts of its range, and the traditional practice still continues in the Outer Hebrides of Scotland and the Faroe Islands. It faces few natural or man-made threats, and since its population is growing it is considered to be a least-concern species by the


title: "Northern gannet" content: International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). As a conspicuous and common bird, it has been mentioned in several ancient myths and legends. The Swiss naturalist Conrad Gessner named the northern gannet as "Anser bassanus" or "scoticus" in the 16th century, noting that the Scots called it "solendguse". The former name was also used by the English naturalist Francis Willughby in the 17th century; the species was known to him from a colony in the Firth of Forth and a stray bird that was found near Coleshill, Warwickshire. It was one of the many species originally described by the Swedish


title: "Northern gannet" content: zoologist Carl Linnaeus in the landmark 1758 10th edition of his "Systema Naturae", where it was given the binomial name "Pelecanus bassanus". The French biologist Brisson placed it in the genus "Sula" in 1760, and his compatriot Louis Vieillot moved the species to his new genus "Morus" in 1816. "Morus" is derived from Ancient Greek "moros", meaning "foolish", and refers to the lack of fear shown by breeding gannets and boobies, which enables them to be easily killed. The specific name "bassanus" is from the Bass Rock in the Firth of Forth. The ornithologist Bryan Nelson in 1978 supported the


title: "Northern gannet" content: species' inclusion in "Sula" as he felt the differences in anatomy, behaviour, ecology and morphology between gannets and boobies were not sufficient to warrant separate genera. Charles Lucian Bonaparte described the American populations as "Sula americana" in 1838, though the basis for distinguishing them from the European species was unclear and the name is now considered to be a synonym. "Northern gannet" has been designated as the official common name for the species by the International Ornithologists' Union (IOC). It is also known as the North Atlantic gannet. "Gannet" is derived from Old English "ganot", meaning "strong or masculine", which


title: "Northern gannet" content: is ultimately from the same Old Germanic root as "gander". "Soland goose" and similar old names for the northern gannet such as "solan" or "solan goose" derive from a hypothetical Scottish Gaelic "sulan", itself borrowed from the Old Norse "sula". The literal meaning is "cleft stick", referring to the appearance of the conspicuous crossed black wing tips on a perched northern gannet. Old regional names such as Norfolk's "herring gant" or Yorkshire's "mackerel gant" refer to typical fish prey. Lincolnshire's "gaunt", although derived from the same Germanic root, usually applies to the great crested grebe, but the English writer Richard


title: "Northern gannet" content: Hakluyt used the term in 1600 to refer to the gannet, "a great White foule". Young birds have been called "spotted booby" or "parliament goose", the former term referring to their plumage. The feeding habits of the gannet have led to its name being used as slang for a gluttonous person, a usage first recorded in 1929. The Sulidae, the gannets and boobies, appeared about 30 million years ago. Early Sulidae fossils resembled the boobies, although they were more aquatic, the gannets splitting off later, about 16 million years ago. The gannets evolved in the northern hemisphere, later colonising the


title: "Northern gannet" content: southern oceans. The most ancient extant species may be the Abbott's booby, possibly the sole survivor of an otherwise extinct separate lineage. A 2011 genetic study of nuclear and mitochondrial DNA suggests that the ancestor of the gannets arose around 2.5 million years ago before splitting into northern and southern lineages. The latter then split into the Cape and Australasian gannets around 0.5 million years ago. The three gannets are generally considered to be separate species forming a superspecies, though they have also formerly been classified as subspecies of "Sula bassanus". An adult northern gannet is long, weighs , and


title: "Northern gannet" content: has a wingspan, making it the largest gannet and the largest seabird native to the western Palearctic. The two sexes are generally of a similar size and appearance. The plumage is white with dark brown to black wing tips; the primary flight feathers, primary coverts and alulae are dark. The head and neck are tinged buff-yellow, becoming much more prominent in the breeding season. Males are more deeply coloured than females. The eyes have a light blue to light grey iris surrounded by a thin black ring of bare skin. The beak is long, strong and conical with a slight


title: "Northern gannet" content: downcurve at the end and a sharp cutting edge. In adults, the beak is blue-grey with dark grey or black edges. There is a black groove running the length of the mandible that merges into the skin around the eyes. A black band of bare skin also separates the pale feathers of the forehead and throat from the bill, which gives the gannet its distinctive face markings. The four-toed feet are joined by a membrane that can vary in colour from dark grey to dark brown. There are coloured lines running along the toes that continue along up the legs.


title: "Northern gannet" content: These are typically greenish-yellow in males and bluish in females and probably have a role in mating. Fledglings are dark grey to slate-grey with upperparts and wings finely speckled with white. There is a prominent V-shaped white area under the rump. The wing tips and tail are dark brown-black, partly tipped with white. The bill and iris are dark brown. They can weigh more than by the time they leave the nest at about 10 weeks of age. In the second year the bird's appearance changes depending on the different phases of moulting: they can have adult plumage at the


title: "Northern gannet" content: front and continue to be brown at the rear. Gannets gradually acquire more white in subsequent seasons until they reach maturity after five years. Northern gannets are slightly larger and thicker-billed than Cape or Australian gannets. The northern gannet has more white in the wings and an all-white tail, the other species having black tips to their tail feathers. Individuals on the west coast of Africa could be confused with vagrant masked boobies, though the latter is smaller overall, lacks the buff tinge to the head, and has a black tail. From a distance, or in poor visibility, albatrosses can


title: "Northern gannet" content: be confused with northern gannets, particularly those with immature plumage that have more black on the wings. Northern gannets have streamlined bodies adapted for plunge-diving at high speed, including powerful neck muscles, and a spongy bone plate at the base of the bill. The nostrils are inside the bill and can be closed to prevent water entry; the eyes are protected by strong nictitating membranes. There are subcutaneous air sacs in the lower body and along the sides. Other air sacs are located between the sternum and the pectoral muscles and between the ribs and the intercostal muscles. These sacs


title: "Northern gannet" content: are connected to the lungs and are filled with air when the bird breathes in. The air can be returned to the lungs by muscle contractions. The feathers are waterproof, which allows the birds to spend long periods in water. A water-impermeable secretion produced by a sebaceous gland covers the feathers and the birds spread it across their body using their beak or head. Individuals have a subcutaneous fat layer, dense down feathers and tightly overlapping feathers that help them withstand low temperatures. A reduced blood flow in the webbing on their feet outside of the breeding season also helps


title: "Northern gannet" content: to maintain body temperature when the birds swim. The northern gannet is a loud and vocal bird, particularly in the colony. Its typical call is a harsh "arrah-arrah" or "urrah-urrah", which is emitted upon arriving or when challenging other gannets at the colony. The call is shortened to a "rah" "rah" when fishing or collecting nesting material, and lengthened to a "ooo-ah" when taking off. The calls of the sexes are similar. According to Nelson northern gannets can recognize the call of their breeding partner, their chicks and birds in neighbouring nests. Individuals from outside this sphere are treated with


title: "Northern gannet" content: more aggression. The northern gannet's breeding range is on both sides of the North Atlantic on coasts influenced by the Gulf Stream, There are colonies in the Gulf of Saint Lawrence and on the islands off the east coast of Canada. They normally nest in large colonies, on cliffs overlooking the ocean or on small rocky islands. The water needs to be cool enough for Atlantic mackerel and herring, which are the main food source for the northern gannet. These areas also overlie the continental shelf. Northern gannet colonies can be found in the far north in regions that are


title: "Northern gannet" content: very cold and stormy, and Nelson has suggested that they can survive in these regions for several reasons, including the combination of body weight and a powerful beak that allows them to capture strong muscular fish, and the ability to dive to great depths and capture prey far from the cliffs. Their fat reserves act as weight when diving and as reserves during extended periods without food. The northern limit of their breeding area depends on the presence of waters that are free of sea ice during the breeding season. Therefore, while Greenland and Svalbard offer suitable breeding sites, the


title: "Northern gannet" content: Arctic regions have summers that are too short to allow the northern gannets to lay their eggs and raise a brood, which requires between 26 and 30 weeks. The southern limit of their distribution mainly depends on the presence of sufficient prey. There is fossil evidence of northern gannets breeding on Crete in the Pleistocene. Some northern gannet breeding colonies have been recorded as being located in the same place for hundreds of years. The cliffs containing the colonies appear white when seen from a distance, due to the number of nesting birds present on them. There is a written