Grebe
greb, a family of lobe-footed aquatic birds related to the loon, but much smaller. Grebes are famous divers and are able to swim with but the tip of the bill above water. In this way they seem to disappear marvelously. A grebe has the power of paddling so swiftly that, when lifted out of the water by hand, its feet move so rapidly that they form a mere blur, and cannot be distinguished apart. There are six species in North America , three of which are found in the northeastern part of the United States and Canada. They feed largely on fish. Their nests are masses of water-soaked, floating vegetation, built up in shallows or attached to rushes or grass. How eggs can be hatched in so wet a nest is a wonder. The mother grebe carries her young on her back. She uses her long neck in feeding them choice bits of minnows, snails, and tadpoles. When she thinks they should take to the water she gets them out on her wing, and gives them a flip, as from a springboard. The common grebe is also called the piedbilled grebe, dabchick, hell-diver, and water-witch. It is useless to waste powder on a grebe. It dives at the flash, long before shot can reach it. The flesh is as useless as that of the white-billed coot. See Coot ; Loon
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Greek Literature
. See Literature
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Greely
ADOLPHUS WASHING- TON, an American Arctic explorer; born in Newburyport, Mass., March 27, 1844. English People" (4 vols. 1877-1880); He served as a volunteer through the war of 1861-1865, and shortly after its conclusion entered the regular army as lieutenant, and in 1868 was placed on the signal service. In 1881 he was selected to conduct the American expedition to the head of Smith Sound, for the purpose of carrying on observations in pursuance of the international scheme arranged at Hamburg in 1879. He and the survivors of his party were rescued in June, 1883, when at the point of perishing from starvation, after spending three winters in the Arctic regions. Lieutenant Lockwood of this expedition traveled to within 396 miles of the geographical pole, the farthest point N. hitherto reached. In 1887 Greely was appointed chief of the signal service, with the rank of a Brigadier-General. In 1906 he was promoted Major-General for completing the Ute campaign. He accomplished a great relief work when 400,000 people in San Francisco were made homeless by the earthquakes. He retired in 1908. He published "Three Years of Arctic Service" (1886). He died in 1920.
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Green Bay
a city and county-seat of Brown co., Wis .; on Green bay, the Fox river, and the 'Chicago and Northwestern, the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul, the Green Bay and Western, and the Kewaunee , Green Bay and West ern railroads; 65 miles N. N. E. of Fond du Lac. It is at the head of lake and the foot of river navigation ; has an ample harbor, and carries on a large trade in lumber, coal , grain, flour, cheese, etc. It has waterworks , electric lights and street railroads . National banks, public library, high school, several Roman Catholic and Lutheran parochial schools. The United States Government constructed a ship canal to connect the Mississippi river with Lake Michigan, using the Wisconsin and Fox rivers , the cost of which $10,000,000. Pop. (1910) 25,236; (1920) 31,017. was over
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Green Mountain Boys
a name applied to the male inhabitants of Vermont, from the chief range of mountains in the State, and used especially in referring to regiments from Vermont in the Revolution and the Civil War.
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Green Mountains
a considerable mountain range commencing in Hartford co., Conn., and extending N. through Massachusetts and Vermont into Lower Canada. Length, about 240 miles. Their greatest elevation is in Vermont, where Mount Mansfield, or North Peak, rises to a height of 4,389 feet. Their geological formation is the metamorphic slates, gneiss, quartz rock, limestone, etc., of the Laurentian epoch, the general range of which is about N. 15° E., with a prevailing dip of 30° to 55°. The slopes are covered on the disappearance of the snow in spring with fine pastures of rich green grass, which may have given to the mountains their name, though this is commonly referred to the growth of evergreen forest trees.
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Green Sea
the Persian Gulf, so named from a remarkable strip of water of a bright green color along the coast of Arabia.
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Green, John Richard
John Richard (1837-1883), an eminent English historian. He was born at Oxford and was graduated at that university in 1859. He entered the ministry, but failing health and differences of opinion led him to seek a position as a librarian. He drifted through magazine writing into serious historical composition. A Short History of the English People, published in 1874, attained instant success. "What Macaulay had done for a period of English history, Green did for it as a whole," said one critic. A more extended work, The History of the English People, followed. It is one of the standard histories of England. As compared with other historians, Green paid less attention to wars, rulers, and parliaments, and more attention to the development of the arts and sciences and the comforts of common life. The nature of his work is well expressed by the titles he chose. Later he planned an extended critical work of many volumes. Two of these, the Making of England and the Conquest of England, he completed before his death. See Froude ; Macaulay
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Greenaway
KATE, an English artist; especially famous for her pictures of child life. Her first book was "Under the Window," followed by illustrations for "Pied Piper of Hamelin," "Marigold Garden," "Mother Goose," etc., and two books of her own, "A Painting Book for Boys and Girls," and "Kate Greenaway's Alphabet." She died in London, Nov. 8, 1901.
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Greenback Party
in the United States, called by its members the Inde pendent National party, was organized in 1876, and was the outgrowth of the Granger and Labor Reform movements. Its convention at Indianapolis in May, 1876, demanded "the unconditional repeal of the Specie Resumption Act on Jan. 14, 1875"; urged the issue of United States notes as a circulating medium, and the suppression of bank paper; and protested against the further issue of gold bonds, and the purchase of silver to replace the fractional currency. Peter Cooper was nominated for President, and received 81,740 votes. In 1880 its candidate was James B. Weaver, who received 306,305 ballots. It has never gained any electoral votes. In 1884 the party indorsed the nomination of Benjamin F. Butler by the People's party, which polled 175,370 votes.
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