Wikipedia
Euphonias are members of the genus Euphonia, a group of Neotropical birds in the finch family. They and the chlorophonias comprise the subfamily Euphoniinae.
Most euphonias are dark metallic blue above and bright yellow below. Many have contrasting pale foreheads and white undertails. Some have light blue patches on the head and/or orangish underparts. They range in overall length from . They eat small fruit and berries particularly mistletoe ( Loranthaceae). Some species may also eat some insects.
Euphonias were once considered members of the tanager family, Thraupidae. A molecular phylogenetic study of the finch family Fringillidae published in 2012 included 9 species from the genus Euphonia and a single species from the genus Chlorophonia, the blue-naped chlorophonia. The resulting cladogram showed the blue-naped chlorophonia nested within the Euphonia clade implying that the genus Euphonia is paraphyletic. The name of the genus was introduced by the French zoologist Anselme Gaëtan Desmarest in 1806.
The euphonia was a talking machine created in the early to mid-nineteenth century by the Austrian inventor Joseph Faber and exhibited in 1845 in Philadelphia and in 1846 in London. An earlier version of the invention had been destroyed in 1844 by Faber.
A mechanical device that he had reportedly spent over twenty five years developing, Faber's "Fabulous Talking Machine," which would later be renamed the "euphonia," was constructed of several different mechanisms and instruments: a piano, a bellows, and a mechanical replica of the human throat and vocal organs. By pressing the keys on the keyboard, a human operator produced sounds that inflated the bellows, caused the mechanical mouth to open, the mechanical tongue to be lifted, and the mechanical jaws to move. Able to produce sentences in English, French, and German, the euphonia was reported to by The London Journal to speak all three with a German accent, a fact attributed to the native language (German) of the inventor. Exhibited with a female mask covering the mechanical mouth, tongue, and jaw and at times with a dress hanging below the mask, the euphonia would perform for audiences, pretending to respond to or mimic the words of the keyboard operator. In describing the euphonia, the 19th century American scientist Joseph Henry explained "that sixteen levers or keys 'like those of a piano' projected sixteen elementary sounds by which 'every word in all European languages can be distinctly produced.' A seventeenth key opened and closed the equivalent of the glottis, an aperture between the vocal cords. 'The plan of the machine is the same as that of the human organs of speech, the several parts being worked by strings and levers instead of tendons and muscles.'
Usage examples of "euphonia".
He found a tiny Euphonia in a christening dress two yards long, propped up on cushions.
In both of them Euphonia looked happy and pert, posed with a yellow sports car in one shot and with the Pink Sunset tour bus in the other.
The audience listened and stared, as if Euphonia herself might glide onto the stage.
Qwilleran deduced that Euphonia was mourning a lost lover, and it was not Grandpa Gage.
Did Euphonia lend it to him on the strength of her affection for Lena?
I believe I've uncovered something in the Park of Pink Sunsets that's a bigger story than Euphonia Gage.
Now here's a curious fact: On the weekend Euphonia died, Betty and Claude were in Pickax, attending the preview of 'The Big Burning.
It's my contention that Euphonia paid a farm family to take Lethe and change her name to Lena Foote.
I'm guessing that Euphonia continued to pay hush money to the foster parents.
A woman who was a friend of Euphonia Gage in Florida has been advised by her doctor to move up here for the salubrious climate.
She was a dear friend of Euphonia Gage in Florida, who said Celia - or Sadie - had an exceptionally warm and outgoing personality.
She was in a deep depression following the death of her favorite grandson - or something like that - and Euphonia had praised Moose County as a good place to start a new life.
The flyleaf of my copy was inscribed by Euphonia Gage to her father-in-law.
They don't flaunt it, but they've got it - people like Doctor Zoller, Euphonia Gage, Doctor Halifax, the Lanspeaks, and how about you?
He had never met the fourteen year-old science and math whiz who had helped solve the Euphonia Gage case in Florida, and he felt obliged to extend some form of hospitality, although he was not fond of the underage bracket.