Birds and baby animals Lesson 10 of the myths course of Mova's primary school: 16 sentences, each with its syntax tree and pragmatics. The lessons are written for Mova, and their agreed trees are part of Mova corpus 0.4 (CC BY-SA 4.0). How Mova does on its tests: the lesson at school .
0 A fluffy chick hops about on the pavement and Molly flings out her arms: "Don't TOUCH it! 1 Its mum will smell you and never come back!" Everyone freezes, and the chick blinks. 2 Bird myths are some of the most charming: hummingbirds hitching rides on geese, mother birds shoving their babies out to teach them to fly, wedding rice making birds explode, a duck's quack that mysteriously never echoes. 3 Most birds have a poor sense of smell, so a touch won't make parents abandon a chick; but Molly's rule is still good, because a fledgling (a young bird that has just left the nest) on the ground usually has its parents close by, watching. 4 Other tales melt under a test: scientists played a quack in an echo room and heard it echo, and birds eat dry grains every day without exploding. 5 And watch out for "nobody would believe it" facts, because some are real: an eagle really can spot a rabbit from very far away. 6 Most birds have a poor sense of smell and won't abandon a chick because a person touched it; still, fledglings on the ground are usually fine and their parents nearby, so it's best to leave them. 7 Uncooked rice does not make birds explode; birds eat seeds and grains all the time. 8 Mother birds don't push chicks out to teach flying; fledglings leave when ready, and flying comes from instinct and practice, with parents encouraging. 9 Hummingbirds migrate on their own, flying amazing distances; they do not ride on geese. 10 Swans can hit hard and you should keep away from nesting swans, but there is little evidence of them breaking adults' arms. 11 Some penguin pairs meet again year after year, but many penguins change partners between seasons; it depends on the species. 12 A duck's quack does echo; it is just quiet and hard to hear, and scientists tested it in an echo chamber at the University of Salford. 13 "Bird poop is good luck" is a kind saying to cheer people up, not a fact. 15 Pigeons, like many animals, can carry some germs, but the risk to people is low with normal hand-washing; pigeons carried messages in wars and some won medals. 16 Watching real footage, such as a nest camera, is a good way to test a claim about how birds behave. ← previous Small creatures and creepy-crawliesnext → Animals in the sea and the river↑ back to Myths This page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/myths/10-birds-and-baby-animals/