Grey

Grey, Albert Henry George Grey, 4th Earl, 1851-1917, English statesman, nephew of the 3d Earl Grey. In 1880 he entered the House of Commons as a Liberal, but he lost his seat as a result of his opposition to Gladstone's Home Rule Bill of 1886. Grey returned to Parliament as a member of the House of Lords when he succeeded his uncle to the earldom in 1894. Administrator (1896-97) of Rhodesia, he was governor-general of Canada from 1904 to 1911.

Grey, Charles Grey, 2d Earl, 1764-1845, British statesman. Elected to Parliament in 1786, he was one of those appointed to manage the impeachment of Warren Hastings. From 1792 he was a leader of the movement for parliamentary reform and opposed the repressive policies of Sir William Pitt. He succeeded (1806) Charles James Fox as foreign secretary in the "ministry of all talents" and Whig leader of the House of Commons, putting through the measure to abolish the African slave trade (1807). As prime minister (1830-34) he secured the passage of the Reform Bill of 1832 (see under Reform Acts) by threatening to force William IV to create enough Whig peers to carry it in the House of Lords.

Grey, Sir Edward: see Grey of Fallodon, Edward Grey, 1st Viscount.

Grey, Sir George, 1812-98, British colonial administrator. He explored the Swan River district in NW Australia (1838) and later was governor of South Australia (1841-45) and of New Zealand (1845-53). As governor of Cape Colony (1854-60), he advocated federation for the South African territories. When war broke out between Maori natives and English settlers, Grey returned to New Zealand as governor (1861-68), but his efforts to end the fighting were fruitless. After brief residence in London he returned to live in New Zealand, where as premier (1877-79) he advocated important social reforms. Polynesian Mythology (1855) is his most important book.

Grey, Lady Jane, 1537-54, queen of England for nine days. She was the daughter of Henry Grey, marquess of Dorset (later duke of Suffolk), and Frances Brandon, daughter of Henry VIII's sister Mary. She became a ward of Baron Seymour of Sudeley, who tried unsuccessfully to bring about a marriage between her and Edward VI. After Seymour's execution (1549) for treason, she fell under the control of John Dudley, duke of Northumberland, who married (1553) her to his youngest son, Lord Guilford Dudley. Northumberland persuaded the boy king, Edward, to change the order of succession and name Lady Jane, a Protestant, to follow him on the throne. After Edward's death Lady Jane, only 15 years old, was proclaimed queen on July 10, 1553. The English people, however, rallied to the cause of Mary I, and Northumberland's army deserted. After nine days as nominal queen, Lady Jane was imprisoned. Because of her youth and innocence her life would probably have been spared had not her father joined the rebellion of Sir Thomas Wyatt (1554). Lady Jane, her husband, and her father were beheaded.

Grey, Zane, 1872-1939, American writer of Western stories, b. Zanesville, Ohio, as Pearl Zane Gray, grad. Univ. of Pennsylvania, 1896. His melodramatic tales of the West and Southwest are vivid in topographical detail but improbable in character and situation. During his lifetime over 13 million copies of his books were sold, and his works did much to romanticize the popular image of the American West. Grey was best known for Riders of the Purple Sage (1912).

orig. Pearl Grey

(born Jan. 31, 1872, Zanesville, Ohio, U.S.—died Oct. 23, 1939, Altadena, Calif.) U.S. novelist. He began his career as a dentist. He first visited the American West in 1906, setting his first novel, The Heritage of the Desert (1910), there. His second novel, Riders of the Purple Sage (1912), was also set in the West and became the most popular of all his books; it helped launch a new literary genre, the western. Grey subsequently wrote more than 80 westerns, including Code of the West (1934). He remains one of the best-selling authors of all time.

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(born October 1537, Bradgate, Leicestershire, Eng.—died Feb. 12, 1554, London) Titular queen of England for nine days in 1553. The great-granddaughter of Henry VII, she was married in May 1553 to the son of the duke of Northumberland. Northumberland persuaded the dying Edward VI to set aside his half sisters as successors in favour of the Protestant Lady Jane. She was proclaimed queen on July 10, despite popular support for Edward's half sister Mary Tudor (see Mary I). Mary was proclaimed queen on July 19 after Lady Jane gladly relinquished the crown. Committed to the Tower of London, Lady Jane and her husband were sentenced to death in 1554. The sentence was initially suspended, but her father's participation in Wyat's rebellion sealed her fate, and she was beheaded.

Learn more about Grey, Lady Jane with a free trial on Britannica.com.

orig. Pearl Grey

(born Jan. 31, 1872, Zanesville, Ohio, U.S.—died Oct. 23, 1939, Altadena, Calif.) U.S. novelist. He began his career as a dentist. He first visited the American West in 1906, setting his first novel, The Heritage of the Desert (1910), there. His second novel, Riders of the Purple Sage (1912), was also set in the West and became the most popular of all his books; it helped launch a new literary genre, the western. Grey subsequently wrote more than 80 westerns, including Code of the West (1934). He remains one of the best-selling authors of all time.

Learn more about Grey, Zane with a free trial on Britannica.com.

(born October 1537, Bradgate, Leicestershire, Eng.—died Feb. 12, 1554, London) Titular queen of England for nine days in 1553. The great-granddaughter of Henry VII, she was married in May 1553 to the son of the duke of Northumberland. Northumberland persuaded the dying Edward VI to set aside his half sisters as successors in favour of the Protestant Lady Jane. She was proclaimed queen on July 10, despite popular support for Edward's half sister Mary Tudor (see Mary I). Mary was proclaimed queen on July 19 after Lady Jane gladly relinquished the crown. Committed to the Tower of London, Lady Jane and her husband were sentenced to death in 1554. The sentence was initially suspended, but her father's participation in Wyat's rebellion sealed her fate, and she was beheaded.

Learn more about Grey, Lady Jane with a free trial on Britannica.com.

The Grey-tailed Tattler, Tringa brevipes (formerly Heteroscelus brevipes: Pereira & Baker, 2005; Banks et al., 2006), is a small shorebird.

Description

The Grey-tailed Tattler is closely related to its North American counterpart, the Wandering Tattler (T. incana) and is difficult to distinguish from that species. Both tattlers are unique among the species of Tringa for having unpatterned, greyish wings and back, and a scaly breast pattern extending more or less onto the belly in breeding plumage, in which both also have a rather prominent supercilium.

These birds resemble Common Redshanks in shape and size. The upper parts, underwings, face and neck are grey, and the belly is white. They have short yellowish legs and a bill with a pale base and dark tip. There is a weak supercilium.

They are very similar to their American counterpart, and differentiation depends on details like the length of the nasal groove and scaling on the tarsus. The best distinction is the call; Gray-tailed has a disyllabic whistle, and Wandering a rippling trill.

Behaviour

Its breeding habitat is stony riverbeds in northeast Siberia. It nests on the ground, but these birds will perch in trees. They also sometimes use old nests of other birds.

Grey-tailed Tattlers are strongly migratory and winter on muddy and sandy coasts from southeast Asia to Australia. They are very rare vagrants to western North America and western Europe. These are not particularly gregarious birds and are seldom seen in large flocks except at roosts.

These birds forage on the ground or water, picking up food by sight. They eat insects, crustaceans and other invertebrates.

Conservation Status

Australia

Grey-tailed Tattlers are not listed as threatened on the Australian Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999.

State of Victoria, Australia

• The Grey-tailed Tattler is listed as threatened on the Victorian Flora and Fauna Guarantee Act (1988). Under this Act, an Action Statement for the recovery and future management of this species has not been prepared.
• On the 2007 advisory list of threatened vertebrate fauna in Victoria, the Grey-tailed Tattler is listed as critically endangered.

References

• Banks, Richard C.; Cicero, Carla; Dunn, Jon L.; Kratter, Andrew W.; Rasmussen, Pamela C.; Remsen, J. V. Jr.; Rising, James D. & Stotz, Douglas F. (2006): Forty-seventh Supplement to the American Ornithologists' Union Check-list of North American Birds. Auk 123(3): 926–936. DOI: 10.1642/0004-8038(2006)123[926:FSTTAO]2.0.CO;2 PDF fulltext
• Database entry includes justification for why this species is of least concern
• Shorebirds by Hayman, Marchant and Prater ISBN 0-7099-2034-2
• Hayman, Peter; Marchant, John & Prater, Tony (1986): Shorebirds: an identification guide to the waders of the world. Houghton Mifflin, Boston. ISBN 0-395-60237-8
• Pereira, Sérgio Luiz & Baker, Alan J. (2005): Multiple Gene Evidence for Parallel Evolution and Retention of Ancestral Morphological States in the Shanks (Charadriiformes: Scolopacidae). Condor 107(3): 514–526. DOI: 10.1650/0010-5422(2005)107[0514:MGEFPE]2.0.CO;2 HTML abstract