wood alcohol See methanol
Wood Buffalo National Park Park, western Canada. Situated between Athabasca and Great Slave lakes, it was established in 1922; it occupies an area of 17,300 sq mi (44,807 sq km). The world’s largest park, it is a vast region of forests and plains, crossed by the Peace River and dotted with lakes. The habitat of the largest remaining herd of wood buffalo (bison) on the North American continent, as well as of bear, cari¬ bou, moose, and beaver, it also provides nesting grounds for the endan¬ gered WHOOPING CRANE.
wood duck North American duck popular game bird. Wood ducks,
17-21 in. (43-52 cm) long, nest in a tree cavity up to 50 ft (15 m) off the ground; they have long-clawed toes for perching. Both sexes have a head crest in winter. The beautifully coloured male has a purple and green head, red-brown breast flecked with white, and bronze sides; the female has a white eye ring and duller colouring. Ducklings eat aquatic insects and other small organisms; adults prefer acorns or other nuts.
Hunted nearly to extinction for its flesh and feathers, it has been restored to healthy populations by strong conservation efforts.
Wood family English family of Staffordshire potters, a major force in the development of Staffordshire wares from peasant pottery to an organized industry. Its most prominent members were Ralph Wood (1715-72), his brother Aaron (1717—85), and his son Ralph, Jr. (1748-95). Ralph, Jr., was related through his mother to Josiah Wedgwood, and the two names were often linked professionally. The elder Ralph became famous for his extremely well-modeled figures with coloured glazes, and he is credited with introducing the Toby mug. Ralph, Jr., produced a variety of figures, colouring them with enamel rather than glazes, and supplied some of them to Wedgwood. Aaron’s son William (1746-1808) was employed as a modeler by Wedgwood. His brilliant brother Enoch (1759-1840) apprenticed with Wedgwood but by 1783 was established as an independent potter in partnership with his cousin Ralph, Jr. In 1818 he continued his firm as Enoch Wood & Sons. Much of his earthenware was exported to the U.S. The firm closed in 1846. See also Staffordshire figure.
wood louse See pill bug, sow bug wood mouse See field mouse
wood rat or pack rat Any of 22 species (genus Neotoma, family Cricetidae) of rodents that are nocturnal vegetarians of North and Cen¬ tral American deserts, forests, and mountains. Wood rats are buff, gray, or reddish brown, usually with white undersides and feet. They have large ears and are 9-19 in. (23^47 cm) long, including the 3-9-in. (8-24-cm)
furry tail. The nest, up to 3 ft (1 m) across and usually built of twigs or cactus, is placed in a protected spot (e.g., under a rock ledge). Wood rats are sometimes called pack rats because they collect material to deposit in their dens.
wood thrush One of the 11 species of thrushes (in the genus Hylocichla, or Catharus ) called nightingale thrushes because of their rich songs. H. mustelina is common in eastern U.S. broadleaf forests; it is 8 in. (20 cm) long and has drab, spotted plumage and a rusty-colored head.
wood warbler Any of about 120 species of lively North and Central American songbirds in the family Parulidae. Wood warblers superficially resemble the true warblers of the Old World but are usually more brightly coloured (at least in the breeding season) and smaller (about 5 in. [13 cm] long). They commonly inhabit woodlands and sometimes marshes and dry scrub. Their songs are buzzy and monotonous. The usual nest is a tidy cup in a bush or tree. They lay two to five speckled eggs. See also black- poll warbler; chat; redstart.
woodbine Any of many species of vines belonging to various flowering-plant families, especially the Virginia creeper ( Parthenocissus quinquefolia, family Vitaceae) of North America and the Eurasian wood¬ bine honeysuckle ( Lonicera periclymenum, family Caprifoliaceae). The Virginia creeper, also called American ivy, attaches to walls, fences, and large tree trunks by means of disk-tipped tendrils. Its leaves display spec¬ tacular fall colour from yellow to red-purple. Woodbine honeysuckle has grayish green leaves and fragrant, yellowish white flowers.
woodchuck or groundhog Reddish brown or brown species ( Mar- mota monax ) of solitary marmot inhabiting fields and forest edges in Alaska, Canada, and the eastern and central U.S. Woodchucks are 17-20 in. (42-52 cm) long, have a 4-6-in. (10-15-cm) tail, and weigh 4-14 lbs (2-6 kg). They are good diggers, swimmers, and climbers. Their burrows have a main entrance and an escape tunnel. See also Groundhog Day.
woodcock Any of five species (family Scolopacidae) of plump, sharp¬ billed migratory birds of damp, dense woodlands in North America, Europe, and Asia. With eyes set far back on the head, a woodcock has a 360° field of vision. The bufify-brown, mottled plumage provides camou¬ flage. A solitary bird, most active at dusk, it drums its feet to coax earth¬ worms to the surface and then extracts them with its long, forceps-like bill; it may eat twice its weight in worms each day. The female Ameri¬ can woodcock (Scolopax, or Philohela, minor) is about 11 in. (28 cm) long; the male is slightly smaller. The male’s striking courtship display includes a long, repeated spiraling and dropping sequence. Woodcocks have been popular game birds.
woodcut Design printed from a plank of wood incised parallel to the vertical axis of the wood’s grain. One of the oldest methods of making prints, it was used in China to decorate textiles from the 5th century. Printing from wood blocks on textiles was known in Europe from the early 14th century but developed little until paper began to be manufactured in France and Germany at the end of the 14th century. In the early 15th cen¬ tury, religious images and playing cards were first made from wood blocks. Black-line woodcut reached its greatest perfection in the 16th century with Albrecht Durer and his followers. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, artists such as Edvard Munch, Paul Gauguin, and the Ger¬ man Expressionists rediscovered the expressive potential of woodcuts. Woodcuts have played an important role in the history of Japanese art (see ukiyo-e).
Woodhull, Victoria orig. Victoria Claflin (b. Sept. 23, 1838, Homer, Ohio, U.S.—d. June 10, 1927, Norton Park, Bremons, Worces¬ tershire, Eng.) U.S. social reformer. She and her sister Tennessee Claflin (1845-1923) were raised in a family of traveling spiritualists. After Vic¬ toria’s marriage (1853) to Canning Woodhull ended in 1864, the sisters opened a successful brokerage firm in New York. They founded Woodhull and Claflin’s Weekly (1870), which advocated equal rights for women, a single standard of morality for both sexes, and free love. A splinter group of radical suffragists formed a political party in 1872 and nominated Woodhull for president with Frederick Douglass as vice president. In 1872 the sisters published the first English translation of the Communist Mani¬ festo. For printing news of an alleged adulterous affair by Henry Ward Beecher, they were charged with libel but acquitted (1873). They moved to England (1877), where they lectured, worked for charities, and mar¬ ried wealthy Englishmen. Woodhull and her daughter published the eugenics journal Humanitarian (1892-1910).
(Aix sponsa, family Anatidae); a
Drake wood duck (Aix sponsa)
GRANT HEILMAN
© 2006 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.
2074 I Woodland culture ► Woolworth Co.
Woodland culture Any of the prehistoric cultures of eastern North America dating from the 1st millennium bc. The category includes cul¬ tures such as the Adena and Hopewell. Woodland cultures were character¬ ized by the raising of com, beans, and squash, the fashioning of distinctive pottery, the use of the bow and arrow, and the building of burial mounds. Most of these cultures were replaced by the Mississippian culture in the 1st millennium ad.