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duck
duck common name for wild and domestic waterfowl of the family Anatidae, which also includes geese and swans. It is hunted and bred for its meat, eggs, and feathers. Strictly speaking, duck refers to the female and drake to the male. Ducks are usually divided into three groups: the surface-feeding ...
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waterfowl
waterfowl common term for members of the order Anseriformes, wild, aquatic, typically freshwater birds including ducks, geese, and screamers. In Great Britain the term is also used to designate species kept for ornamental purposes on private lakes or ponds, while in North America it is used for qua...
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Aylesbury
Aylesbury , city (1991 pop. 51,999), Buckinghamshire, central England. It is an agricultural market for the upper Thames valley and is famous for its ducks. There are printing works, food processing, engineering, and other light industries, developed under a government program undertaken to disperse...
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canvas
canvas strong, coarse cloth of cotton, flax, hemp, or other fibers, early used as sailcloth. Left in its natural color, bleached, or dyed, it has a wide variety of uses, as for game, duffel, sport, mail, and nose bags, tennis shoes, covers, tents, and awnings. Waterproofed with tar, paint, or the l...
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Jean Baptiste Oudry
Jean Baptiste Oudry , 1686-1755, French animal painter. A pupil of Largillière, he became court painter to Louis XV, recording the king's hunts in his paintings and tapestry designs. He was also director of the Beauvais and the Gobelin tapestry works. He is known for his illustrations of La F...
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Ugo Betti
Ugo Betti , 1892-1953, Italian dramatist and poet. He was a judge by profession. His earliest published works were two volumes of poetry (1922 and 1932), but he is remembered for his dramas. He wrote 27 plays. Among the most notable were La padrona [the mistress] (1927), Frano allo scalo nord [l...
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spoonbill
spoonbill common name for a large wading bird related to the ibis. It has a long bill with a tip like a flattened spoon, with which it captures small aquatic animals. The roseate spoonbill, Ajaia ajaja, its plumage rosy pink accented with carmine on the wings and tail, is found from the Gulf stat...
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grebe
grebe , common name for swimming birds found on or near quiet waters in most parts of the world. Grebes resemble the loon and the duck ; they have short wings, vestigial tails, and long, individually webbed toes on feet that are set far back on a short, stubby body. They float lower in the water ...
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foie gras
foie gras [Fr.,=fat liver], livers of artificially fattened geese. Ducks and chickens are also sometimes used in the making of foie gras. The birds, kept in close coops to prevent exercise, are systematically fed to the limit of their capacity. Under this treatment the livers are brought to weigh 2...
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goose
goose common name for large wild and domesticated swimming birds related to the duck and the swan. Strictly speaking, the term goose is applied to the female and gander to the male. In North America the wild (or Canada) goose, Branta canadensis, is known by its honking call and by the migrati...
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