Harriet Mann Miller: In 1885 Miller published Bird-Ways, the first of a series of books on birds for adults and children that became widely popular. In the course of the series her reliance on firsthand field observation and her ability to convey a sense of nature’s wonder both grew apace. Miller’s other…

Elaine May: …the screenplay for the movie The Birdcage (1996) and wrote the script for Primary Colors (1998), both of which Nichols directed; she won an Oscar nomination for the latter. She also acted in Allen’s comedy Small Time Crooks (2000).

badminton: …with lightweight rackets and a shuttlecock. The roots of the sport can be traced to the old game battledore and shuttlecock, which was played in ancient Greece, China, and India. The game was taken from India to England, where it was first played in Gloucestershire, at the country estate of…

bird-watching, the observation of live birds in their natural habitat, a popular pastime and scientific sport that developed almost entirely in the 20th century. In the 19th century almost all students of birds used guns and could identify an unfamiliar species only when its corpse was in their

Charlie Parker: A Broadway nightclub, Birdland, was named after him, and he performed there on opening night in late 1949; Birdland became the most famous of 1950s jazz clubs.

BirdLife International, worldwide alliance of nongovernmental organizations that promotes the conservation of birds and their habitats. The group was established in London in 1922 by ornithologist and conservationist T. Gilbert Pearson under the name International Committee for Bird Protection. The

Birdman of Alcatraz, American dramatic film, released in 1962, that made a household name of convicted murderer Robert Stroud, the so-called “Birdman of Alcatraz.” The film is a sentimentalized look at Stroud (played by Burt Lancaster), who became a self-taught ornithologist during his 54 years in

Robert Stroud was an American criminal, a convicted murderer who became a self-taught ornithologist during his 54 years in prison, 42 of them in solitary confinement, and made notable contributions to the study of birds. At the age of 13 Stroud ran away from home, and by the age of 18 he was in

Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance), American satiric film, released in 2014, that won four Academy Awards, including that for best picture. A complex and quirky movie, it was hailed as a masterpiece by many critics, though some viewers found it pretentious and puzzling. Birdman or (The

Birds, drama by Aristophanes, produced in 414 bce. Some critics regard Birds as a pure fantasy, but others see it as a political satire on the imperialistic dreams that had led the Athenians to undertake their ill-fated expedition of 415 bce to conquer Syracuse in Sicily. The character

Clarence Birdseye: …1934 Birdseye was president of Birds Eye Frosted Foods and from 1935 to 1938 of Birdseye Electric Company.

Rebecca West: …The Fountain Overflows (1957), and The Birds Fall Down (1966).

Mary McCarthy: …other books include the novel Birds of America (1971); The Mask of State (1974), on the Watergate affair; Cannibals and Missionaries (1979), a novel; and How I Grew (1987), a second volume of autobiography. An unfinished autobiography, Intellectual Memoirs, New York, 1936–38, was published posthumously in 1992. Between Friends: The…

bird-watching: …and John James Audubon’s illustrated Birds of America (1827–38) and culminating in such essential aids in the field as H.F. Witherby’s five-volume Handbook of British Birds (1938–41) and Roger Tory Peterson’s Field Guide to the Birds (1947), which gives the field marks of all North American birds found east of…

John Gould: …in Gould’s most famous work, The Birds of Australia, 7 vol. (1840–48; supplements 1851–69), and in Mammals of Australia, 3 vol. (1845–63). He was elected Fellow of the Royal Society in 1843.

John Gould: The five-volume Birds of Europe (1832–37) and Monograph of the Ramphastidae (Toucans) (1834) were so successful that the Goulds were able to spend two years (1838–40) in Australia, where they made a large collection of birds and mammals. The collection resulted in Gould’s most famous work, The…

Peter Matthiessen: …the protection of wildlife in The Birds of Heaven (2001), which details a journey across multiple continents in search of cranes, and Tigers in the Snow (2002), which chronicles the plight of the Siberian tiger. The Peter Matthiessen Reader: Nonfiction 1959–1991 was published in 2000.

Black Canary: …a starring role in the Birds of Prey comic. In Birds of Prey Dinah Laurel Lance moved to Gotham City to join Oracle and Huntress in a mixture of crime busting and female empowerment. A television adaptation of Birds of Prey (2002) lasted only a single season and proved to…

Margot Robbie: …free of the Joker, in Birds of Prey (2020) and later in The Suicide Squad (2021). Both movies earned generally favourable reviews. In 2021 the actress lent her voice to the family comedy Peter Rabbit 2: The Runaway. The following year she costarred with Christian Bale and John David Washington…

D.H. Lawrence: Poetry and nonfiction of D.H. Lawrence: …his most original contribution is Birds, Beasts and Flowers (1923), in which he creates an unprecedented poetry of nature, based on his experiences of the Mediterranean scene and the American Southwest. In his Last Poems (1932) he contemplates death.

The Birds, American thriller film, released in 1963, that was directed by Alfred Hitchcock and centres on a small northern California coastal town that is inexplicably attacked and rendered helpless by massive flocks of aggressive birds. (Read Alfred Hitchcock’s 1965 Britannica essay on film

The Birds, novel by Tarjei Vesaas, published in 1957. Not to be confused with Daphne du Maurier’s short story and screenplay for Hitchcock’s avian-horror movieof the same title in English, The Birds (in Norwegian, Fuglane) is a far more restrained and poignant affair from one of Scandinavia’s

Clarence Birdseye was an American businessman and inventor best known for developing a process for freezing foods in small packages suitable for retailing. Birdseye was raised in Brooklyn, New York, and from a young age was interested in the natural sciences. In 1906 he went to Amherst College to

birdsong, certain vocalizations of birds, characteristic of males during the breeding season, for the attraction of a mate and for territorial defense. Songs tend to be more complex and longer than birdcalls, used for communication within a species. Songs are the vocalizations of birds most

Birdsong, novel by Sebastian Faulks, published in 1993. Birdsong is a story of love and war. A mixture of fact and fiction, Faulks’s fourth novel was born of the fear that the First World War was passing out of collective consciousness. At one level, it upholds the promise “We Shall Remember Them,”

the Supremes: Not only were the Supremes the Motown label’s primary crossover act, they also helped change the public image of African Americans

Smarty Jones: …signs of tiring, however, and Birdstone (at 36–1 odds) began to creep up on him in the middle of the track with 14 mile to go. There was no stopping the challenger, who inched closer and closer and then finally swept by at the last second to win by a…

bird stone, abstract stone carving, one of the most striking artifacts left by the prehistoric North American Indians who inhabited the area east of the Mississippi River in the United States and parts of eastern Canada. The stones resemble birds and rarely exceed 6 inches (15 cm) in length. The

Simpson Desert: …of the desert is the Birdsville Track, which was used until the early 20th century by camel caravans led by Afghan traders.

bird-watching, the observation of live birds in their natural habitat, a popular pastime and scientific sport that developed almost entirely in the 20th century. In the 19th century almost all students of birds used guns and could identify an unfamiliar species only when its corpse was in their

Nicolas Cage: …Racing with the Moon and Birdy. Throughout the late 1980s he starred in numerous comedies, including Peggy Sue Got Married (1986) and the Coen brothers’ Raising Arizona (1987), in which he played a small-time criminal who, along with his wife, a former police officer, kidnaps one of a set of…

William Wharton: …for his innovative first novel, Birdy (1979; filmed 1984), a critical and popular success.

double refraction, an optical property in which a single ray of unpolarized light entering an anisotropic medium is split into two rays, each traveling in a different direction. One ray (called the extraordinary ray) is bent, or refracted, at an angle as it travels through the medium; the other ray

Al-Bireh, town in the West Bank that is the capital of Ramallah and Al-Bireh governorate of the Palestinian Authority. Pop. (2017) 45,975. Al-Bireh contains archaeological remains that date back to the Bronze Age (starting in 3000 bce). The oldest sites in the adjacent town of Ramallah go back to

warship: Biremes and triremes: The bireme (a ship with two banks of oars), probably adopted from the Phoenicians, followed and became the leading warship of the 8th century bce. Greek biremes were probably about 80 feet (24 metres) long with a maximum beam around 10 feet…

Birendra Bir Bikram Shah Dev was the king of Nepal from 1972 to 2001, 10th in the line of monarchs in the Shah Dev family. Son of the crown prince (later, from 1955, king) Mahendra, Birendra was educated at St. Joseph’s College (Darjeeling, India), Eton College (England), Tokyo University (1967),

biretta, stiff square hat with three or four rounded ridges, worn by Roman Catholic, some Anglican, and some European Lutheran clergy for both liturgical and nonliturgical functions. A tassel or tuft is often attached. The color generally designates the wearer’s rank. A biretta with four ridges is

Bīrganj, town, southern Nepal, in the Terai, a low, fertile plain, near the Indian border. Southwest of Kāthmāndu, it is an important marketing centre (rice, wheat, barley, corn [maize], jute) and a terminus for the narrow-gauge railway running north to Amlekhganj and connecting with a ropeway

Birger Jarl was the virtual ruler of Sweden from 1248 until his death. Before 1238 Birger married Ingeborg (d. 1254), the sister of King Erik Eriksson (1222–50), and was created jarl (earl) of Sweden in 1248. When Erik died, leaving no son, Birger obtained the election as king of his own son

Birger Magnusson was the king of Sweden (1290–1318), son of Magnus I. He was nominally king under a regency during 1290–1302. He was crowned in 1302 and subsequently engaged in civil war with his brothers (1306–10). Later (1317–18), he had them imprisoned and killed but was himself driven into

Nubian languages: …Nubian) and in Darfur (where Birked [Birgid] and Midob [Midobi] are spoken). These languages are now considered to be a part of the Nilo-Saharan language family.

“Youngest,” “oldest,” “most,” and, finally, “greatest”: all of these superlatives have applied to German kayaker Birgit Fischer at one time or another. At age 18 she became the youngest-ever Olympic canoeing-kayaking champion when she won the gold medal in the 500-metre women’s singles kayak event

Plácido Domingo: …he was awarded the first Birgit Nilsson Prize for outstanding achievement in classical music. (The prize was to be awarded every second or third year in the amount of $1 million.) In 2013 Domingo was named the recipient of the Japan Art Association’s Praemium Imperiale prize for music. In addition…

St. Bridget of Sweden ; canonized October 8, 1391; feast day July 23, formerly October 8) was the patron saint of Sweden, founder of the Bridgittines (Order of the Most Holy Savior), and a mystic whose revelations were influential during the Middle Ages. In 1999 Pope John Paul II named her one of

St. Bridget of Sweden ; canonized October 8, 1391; feast day July 23, formerly October 8) was the patron saint of Sweden, founder of the Bridgittines (Order of the Most Holy Savior), and a mystic whose revelations were influential during the Middle Ages. In 1999 Pope John Paul II named her one of

St. Bridget of Sweden ; canonized October 8, 1391; feast day July 23, formerly October 8) was the patron saint of Sweden, founder of the Bridgittines (Order of the Most Holy Savior), and a mystic whose revelations were influential during the Middle Ages. In 1999 Pope John Paul II named her one of

Vittoriosa, town, eastern Malta, one of the Three Cities (the others being Cospicua and Senglea). It is situated on a small peninsula, just south of Valletta across Grand Harbour. Originally known as Il Borgo, and then Birgu, it was one of the most important towns in medieval Malta. In 1530, when

coconut crab, (Birgus latro), large nocturnal land crab of the southwest Pacific and Indian oceans. It is closely related to the hermit crab and king crab. All are decapod crustaceans (order Decapoda, class Crustacea). Adult coconut crabs are about 1 metre (40 inches) from leg tip to leg tip and

totemism: Birhor: The Birhor, a people that were traditionally residents of the jungle of Chotanagpur Plateau in the northeast Deccan (India), are organized into patrilineal, exogamous totem groups. According to one imperfect list of 37 clans, 12 are based on animals, 10 on plants, 8 on…

Rollinia: pulchrinervis), both called biriba by some authorities, are cultivated for their fruit. Most species of Rollinia are spined or segmented, green-skinned, small trees, with soft fruits about 7.6 cm (3 inches) across. The flowers have three spurlike outside petals and three minute inner petals.

Vannoccio Biringuccio was an Italian metallurgist and armament maker, chiefly known as the author of De la pirotechnia (1540; “Concerning Pyrotechnics”), the first clear, comprehensive work on metallurgy. As a youth Biringuccio enjoyed the patronage of Pandolfo Petrucci (1450–1511), the dictator of

biritch, card game similar to bridge whist and a forerunner of auction and contract bridge. Apparently developed in the eastern Mediterranean region, where it was known as khedive, it became popular in Greece and Egypt and, under the name of biritch, on the French Riviera in the last quarter of the

Bīrjand, capital of South Khorasan province, eastern Iran, built on low hills in a barren valley 4,774 feet (1,455 metres) above sea level. The town, divided by the Khūsf River (usually dry), was formerly the seat of semi-independent rulers and a caravan centre; it has in part maintained its

Birka, medieval city in southeastern Sweden, on the Lake Mälaren island of Björkö. It was Sweden’s first major urban centre and served as a thriving international trade centre between western and eastern Europe. Founded in the 9th century and thus one of the earliest urban settlements in

Birkarlar, group of Swedish and Finnish traders and trappers who, for approximately 300 years, explored, colonized, and governed the forest area extending from the eastern coast of the Gulf of Bothnia to the northern Norwegian hinterland. In 1277 the Swedish kings gave the Birkarlar the right to

Lake Moeris, ancient lake that once occupied a large area of the al-Fayyūm depression in Egypt and is now represented by the much smaller Lake Qārūn. Researches on the desert margin of the depression indicate that in early Paleolithic times the lake’s waters stood about 120 feet (37 m) above sea

George Birkbeck: …was the first president of Birkbeck College.

George Birkbeck was a British physician who pioneered classes for workingmen and was the first president of Birkbeck College. In 1799 Birkbeck was appointed professor of natural philosophy at Anderson’s Institution in Glasgow. There he started a course of lectures on science, to which artisans were

Nubian languages: …Nubian) and in Darfur (where Birked [Birgid] and Midob [Midobi] are spoken). These languages are now considered to be a part of the Nilo-Saharan language family.

Auschwitz, Nazi Germany’s largest concentration camp and extermination camp. Located near the industrial town of Oświęcim in southern Poland (in a portion of the country that was annexed by Germany at the beginning of World War II), Auschwitz was actually three camps in one: a prison camp, an

Birkenhead, seaport and urban area (from 2011 built-up area) in the metropolitan borough of Wirral, metropolitan county of Merseyside, historic county of Cheshire, northwestern England. It is situated on the Wirral peninsula facing Liverpool at the mouth of the River Mersey. The community was a

Frederick Edwin Smith, 1st earl of Birkenhead was a British statesman, lawyer, and noted orator. As lord chancellor (1919–22), he sponsored major legal reforms and helped negotiate the Anglo-Irish Treaty of 1921. A graduate (1895) of Wadham College, Oxford, Smith taught law at Oxford until 1899,

Frederick Edwin Smith, 1st earl of Birkenhead was a British statesman, lawyer, and noted orator. As lord chancellor (1919–22), he sponsored major legal reforms and helped negotiate the Anglo-Irish Treaty of 1921. A graduate (1895) of Wadham College, Oxford, Smith taught law at Oxford until 1899,

Birkenia, genus of extinct early fishlike vertebrates found in Late Silurian and Early Devonian rocks in Europe (from about 421 to 387 million years ago). Birkenia was a primitive jawless vertebrate that attained a length of only about 10 cm (4 inches). Birkenia was adapted for active swimming, and

George David Birkhoff was the foremost American mathematician of the early 20th century, who formulated the ergodic theorem. Birkhoff attended the Lewis Institute (now the Illinois Institute of Technology) in Chicago from 1896 to 1902 and then spent a year at the University of Chicago before

Birkin bag, handbag produced by French luxury retailer Hermès and named after English model, actress, and singer Jane Birkin. First debuting in 1984, the Birkin bag (or simply “Birkin”) became a status symbol in the 1990s and has become known for its sizable price tag and its difficulty to

Birkin bag, handbag produced by French luxury retailer Hermès and named after English model, actress, and singer Jane Birkin. First debuting in 1984, the Birkin bag (or simply “Birkin”) became a status symbol in the 1990s and has become known for its sizable price tag and its difficulty to

Birkin bag: …English model, actress, and singer Jane Birkin. First debuting in 1984, the Birkin bag (or simply “Birkin”) became a status symbol in the 1990s and has become known for its sizable price tag and its difficulty to purchase.

Rupert Birkin, fictional character, a sickly introspective school inspector in the novel Women in Love (1920) by D.H. Lawrence. Birkin, based on Lawrence himself, struggles to understand and act upon his desires. His relationship with his lover, Ursula Brangwen, is full of conflicts, for in his

Fay Weldon was a British novelist, playwright, and television and radio scriptwriter known for her thoughtful and witty stories of contemporary women. Weldon grew up in New Zealand, attended St. Andrew’s University in Scotland (M.A., 1952?), and became an advertising copywriter in London. In the

birling, outdoor sport of the North American lumberjack. Its origin can be traced to the spring log drives of eastern Canada and the New England states, particularly the state of Maine, during the early lumbering era in the 19th century, from which it moved westward to the Great Lakes region and

Celtic literature: Developments of the 18th century: His masterpiece, Birlinn Chlann Raghnaill (“The Galley of Clanranald”), is an extravaganza, ostensibly a description of a voyage from South Uist in the Hebrides Isles to Carrickfergus in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. He also composed nature poems, love poems, drinking songs, and satires.

longhair: …with white paws are called Birmans. Peke-faced longhairs have short, pushed-in, Pekingese-like faces.

Birmingham: …the United Kingdom and a metropolitan borough in the West Midlands metropolitan county. It lies near the geographic centre of England, at the crossing points of the national railway and motorway systems. Birmingham is the largest city of the West Midlands conurbation—one of England’s principal industrial and commercial areas—for which…

Birmingham, second largest city of the United Kingdom and a metropolitan borough in the West Midlands metropolitan county. It lies near the geographic centre of England, at the crossing points of the national railway and motorway systems. Birmingham is the largest city of the West Midlands

Birmingham, largest city in Alabama, U.S., located in the north-central part of the state. It is a leading industrial centre of the South. Birmingham is the seat (1873) of Jefferson county, a port of entry in the Mobile customs district, and the focus of a large metropolitan area that includes the

Birmingham Children’s Crusade, nonviolent protest against segregation held by Black children on May 2–10, 1963, in Birmingham, Alabama. The protest is credited with causing a major shift in attitudes against segregation among Americans and with convincing Pres. John F. Kennedy to publicly support

Birmingham enamelware, enameled objects made in Birmingham, Eng., an important centre for the production of 18th-century European enamelware. The most prominent Birmingham enameler was Matthew Boulton (1728–1809), a leading English engineer and manufacturer. His firm, Boulton and Fothergill,

Thomas Attwood: …founded, in January 1830, the Birmingham Political Union, regarded as the political organization most effective in exerting pressure on the government for passage of the Reform Bill of 1832. Attwood formed the union because of widespread economic distress, particularly after 1826. Through its action, working-class protest was strengthened by middle-class…

Dawoud Bey: The Birmingham Project: Bey has also deployed his portrait practice to address the United States’ history of racial prejudice. In The Birmingham Project (2013), the artist commemorated the four girls killed in the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing (September 15, 1963) in Birmingham, Alabama, orchestrated…

Destruction of the Mulberry BushThe Mulberry Bush was one of two pubs in Birmingham, England, that were bombed on November 21, 1974. An explosive device in a duffel bag exploded just after 8 PM, killing ten people. At about the same time, another device exploded in another crowded Birmingham pub,

John Lee Hooker was an American blues singer-guitarist, one of the most distinctive artists in the electric blues idiom. Born into a Mississippi sharecropping family, Hooker learned to play the guitar from his stepfather and developed an interest in gospel music as a child. In 1943 he moved to

Birmingham pub bombings: … became known as the “Birmingham Six.” They were convicted in August 1975 and sentenced to life imprisonment. In 1991, after a long campaign had been conducted on their behalf, an appeals court overturned all six convictions, citing police mishandling of the evidence and indications that the confessions had been…

Marie Ponsot was an American poet, essayist, literary critic, teacher, and translator who has been described as a love poet, a metaphysician, and a formalist. Although she periodically published individual poems, her collections were few, and she released only one—True Minds (1957)—before 1981. Her

Sir Oliver Joseph Lodge: …first principal of the new Birmingham University, and he was knighted in 1902. After 1900 he became prominent in psychical research, believing strongly in the possibility of communicating with the dead.

George Burns was an American comedian who—with his dry humour, gravelly voice, and ever-present cigar—was popular for more than 70 years in vaudeville, radio, film, and television. He was especially known as part of a popular comedy team with his wife, Gracie Allen. Burns began his career at age

Earle Birney was a Canadian writer and educator whose contributions to Canadian letters—especially to poetry—reveal a deep and abiding love of language. Birney received a Ph.D. at the University of Toronto (1936). His first collection of poetry, David and Other Poems (1942), was published during

Earle Birney was a Canadian writer and educator whose contributions to Canadian letters—especially to poetry—reveal a deep and abiding love of language. Birney received a Ph.D. at the University of Toronto (1936). His first collection of poetry, David and Other Poems (1942), was published during

James Gillespie Birney was a prominent opponent of slavery in the United States who was twice the presidential candidate of the abolitionist Liberty Party. Birney was trained in law and practiced in Danville. He won election to the Kentucky legislature in 1816, and in 1818 he moved to Alabama,

Phoenix Islands: McKean, Nikumaroro (Gardner), Birnie, Orona (Hull), Kanton (Canton), and Enderbury atolls. They have a total land area of approximately 11 square miles (29 square km). All are low, sandy atolls that were discovered in the 19th century by American whaling ships. Evidence on Manra, Orona, and Nikumaroro suggests…

Birnin Kebbi, town, capital of Kebbi state, northwestern Nigeria. It lies along the Sokoto (Kebbi) River at the intersection of roads from Argungu, Jega, and Bunza. An early settlement of the Kebbawa, a subgroup of the Hausa, it was captured about 1516 by Muhammadu Kanta, founder of the Kebbi

Birnin Kudu, town, Jigawa state, northern Nigeria. It lies at the intersection of roads from Kano city, Gwaram, and Ningi. It is best known as the site of Dutsen Habude, a cave containing Neolithic paintings of cattle (which bear strong resemblance to some found in the central Sahara) and rock

Argungu, town and traditional emirate, Kebbi state, northwestern Nigeria. The town is on the Sokoto (Kebbi) River and lies at the intersection of roads from Birnin Kebbi, Gwandu, Sokoto town, Augi, and Kaingiwa. The town is a collecting point for tobacco, grown in the surrounding riverine

Patrick Joseph Frawley, Jr.: …purchasing a bankrupt fabricator of ballpoint pen components for $18,000. Ballpoint pens, which had been invented in the mid-1930s, were unpopular at the time: they leaked, the ink smeared, and most of them were expensive. By sponsoring the development of a quick-drying ink and a leakproof pen design, the Frawley…

László Bíró was a Hungarian inventor of the easy-to-use writing implement generally known as the biro in Britain and the ballpoint pen in the United States. Bíró began his career as a journalist and was the editor of Hongrie in 1933–34. He also enjoyed some success as a Surrealist painter. In that

László Bíró was a Hungarian inventor of the easy-to-use writing implement generally known as the biro in Britain and the ballpoint pen in the United States. Bíró began his career as a journalist and was the editor of Hongrie in 1933–34. He also enjoyed some success as a Surrealist painter. In that

Birobidzhan, city and administrative centre of Yevreyskaya autonomous oblast (region), Khabarovsk kray (territory), far southeastern Siberia, Russia. The city is situated on the Bira River, a tributary of the Amur River, and on the Trans-Siberian Railroad. It was founded in 1928 as a railway

Birobidzhan, city and administrative centre of Yevreyskaya autonomous oblast (region), Khabarovsk kray (territory), far southeastern Siberia, Russia. The city is situated on the Bira River, a tributary of the Amur River, and on the Trans-Siberian Railroad. It was founded in 1928 as a railway

Jewish Autonomous Region, autonomous oblast (region), far eastern Russia, in the basin of the middle Amur River. Most of the oblast consists of level plain, with extensive swamps, patches of swampy forest, and grassland on fertile soils, now largely plowed up. In the north and northwest are the

African dance: Rhythm: …dag Chun dance of the Birom girls of the Jos Plateau.