These 8 listings are so strange that each appears in only one of the 7 encyclopedias we compared. They include such classics as Swett, Sweyn, Swift.
SOPHIA MIRIAM, an American writer; born in Brewer, Me., in 186-. She published: "The Lollipops' Vacation"; "Captain Polly"; "Flying Hill Farm"; "The Mate of the Mary Ann"; "Cap'n Thistletop"; "The Ponkarty Branch Road"; "The Boy from Beaver Hollow" (1900); etc.
Only in Collier's New Encyclopedia
a king of Denmark, father of Canute the Great. He died in 1014, after having established himself in England, though without being crowned there. See DENMARK and ETHELRED II.
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. See Lizard
Only in Aiton's Encyclopedia
a family of birds related to that of the hummingbird, but having a strong outward resemblance to the swallow. There are seventy-five species, four North American. They were originally inhabitants of hollow trees and caves, but they are now disposed to seek shelter in buildings. The common swift has adapted itself to new conditions. It builds a bracket-like nest of twigs, glued together with a sticky saliva and attached to the inside of a chimney,--hence the popular but incorrect name of chimney-swallow. Chimney-swift would be more appropriate. The swift has long, pointed wings, curved backward, and has a compact, trim body riding between them. They give the appearance of a tiny bow and arrow when the owner is sailing at a great height, as is its custom of a morning or fine evening. Frequently several nests are made in the same chimney, and occasionally large colonies occupy disused factory chimneys or mill stacks. The swift clings to a wall by small, weak feet, using its tail as a prop, woodpecker fashion. It feeds on insects caught in midair. Its plumage is compact to offer little resistance in swift flight, and, as might be expected from its nesting place, is of a sooty brown, grayish on the throat. Eggs, four to six, white. The edible nest used by the Chinese for soups is made by a species of swift that inhabits the cliffs of Asiatic coasts. See Swallow ; Martin
Only in Aiton's Encyclopedia
EBEN, an American military officer, born at Fort Chadbourne, Tex., in 1854. He was educated at Racine (Wis.) College, Washington University and Dickinson College, and graduated from the United States Military Academy in 1876. In the same year he was commissioned a 2d lieutenant, and rising through the various grades became brigadier-general in 1916 and major-general in 1917. He saw service in the Indian campaigns in Wyoming, Montana, Nebraska, Idaho and Colorado; in Cuba, Porto Rico and the Philippine Islands and at the Mexican border. His other assignments included service with the infantry and cavalry schools, the General Service and Staff College, the Army War College and the Army service schools, of which latter he was commandant. Upon the entrance of the United States in the World War, he became commanding officer of Camp Gordon, Atlanta, Ga., and later of the 82d Division, with which he served in France until February, 1918. From February to August, 1918, he was chief of the American Military Mission and commander of the United States Forces in Italy, retiring upon reaching the age limit in September, 1918.
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the Hirundo apus of Linnæus and Cypselus apus or murarius of modern ornithologists. Though swifts are like swallows in many respects, their structure is almost entirely different, and some naturalists rather class them with the humming birds or the goat suckers. The swift has all four toes directed forward; it is larger than the swallow; its flight is more rapid and steady; and its scream is very different from the twittering of the swallow. It has the greatest powers of flight of any bird that visits Great Britain. Its weight is most disproportionately small to its extent of wing, the former being scarcely an ounce, the latter 18 inches, the length of the body being about 8 inches. Its color is a somber or sooty black, a whitish patch appearing beneath the chin. It builds in holes in the roofs of houses, in towers, or in hollow trees. It leaves Great Britain in August, having arrived from Africa early in May. The C. melba or alpinus, a larger species with the lower parts dusky white, has its home in the mountainous parts of Central and Southern Europe. A common North American swift is the co-called chimney swallow (Chaætura pelagica), which builds its nest in chimneys (see SWALLOW). The swifts or swiftlets of the genus Collocalia, which inhabit chiefly the islands of the Indian Ocean from the N. of Madagascar E., construct the edible birds'-nests which are used by Chinese epicures in the making of soup.
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LEWIS, an American astronomer; born in Clarkson, N. Y., Feb. 29, 1820; was graduated at Clarkson Academy in 1838, and spent spent the early lecturing. Later he part of his life in became interested in astronomy, built and set up his own telescope in Rochester, N. Y., and began to make observafor comets, and discovered the notable one of 1862. In 1869 he observed a total solar eclipse and secured valuable results. Two years later he found another comet, and in 1877-1879 discovered other comets, for which he was three times awarded the court prize and received a gold medal from the Imperial Academy of Sciences in Vienna. In 1882 he assumed the directorship of the Warner Observatory, and later took charge of the Lowe Observatory. He was the author of "Simple Lessons in Astronomy" (1888). He died in 1913.
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LOUGH, a long narrow inlet of the Atlantic on the N. coast of Donegal, Ireland; enters between Dunaff Head on the E. and Fanad Point, on which there is a lighthouse (fixed light visible 14 miles), on the W. A second lighthouse, on Dunree Head, has a fixed light visible for 13 miles. The entrance is protected by forts. Lough Swilly penetrates about 25 miles inland, and has a width of 3 to 4 miles. On the E. shore is the small town of Buncrana, much resorted to for sea-bathing. On its waters a French fleet under Bompart was destroyed in 1798, and not many years later the British ship "Saldanha" foundered at the entrance in a storm. SWIFT, LINDSAY, an American educator, born at Boston, in 1856. He was educated at Harvard University and was editor of the Boston Public Library. Besides contributing to many journals and editing several works in American his tory, he wrote: "Massachusetts Election Sermons" (1897); "The Great Debate Between Hayne ne and Webster" (1898); "Literary Landmarks of Boston" (1903); "Benjamin Franklin" (1910); "William Lloyd Garrison" (1911).
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