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This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. How many beakfuls of mud might it take a Martin to build a nest?
(a) 1,500.
(b) 900.
(c) 1,000 or so.
(d) About 1,200.

2. What does Macdonald say that swifts weigh?
(a) About 40 grams.
(b) 45 grams.
(c) 35 grams.
(d) Around 50 grams.

3. What type of birds nested on Dublin's Poolbeg Power Station?
(a) Gulls.
(b) Ospreys.
(c) Peregrine falcons.
(d) Pigeons.

4. What did Macdonald look for in a disused chalk quarry in "In Spight of Prisons"?
(a) Wood-colored beetles.
(b) Green longhorn moths.
(c) Cockchafters.
(d) Glow-worms.

5. In "Deer in the Headlights," when was there a financial crash?
(a) 2010.
(b) 2007.
(c) 2008.
(d) 2009.

6. What area did Glenn Albrecht mention that became unrecognizable through environmental change?
(a) Tennessee.
(b) Kentucky.
(c) South Africa.
(d) New South Wales.

7. Where did the author remember in "Nestboxes" staying where there was a pair of nesting laughing doves?
(a) South Africa.
(b) India.
(c) Egypt.
(d) Madagascar.

8. How long could the author ride on a horse before her allergies got too severe to continue riding?
(a) 20 minutes.
(b) 30 minutes.
(c) 25 minutes.
(d) 5 minutes.

9. In "The Observatory," what type of swans did the author observe?
(a) Coscoroba.
(b) Whopper and Bewick's.
(c) Mute.
(d) Black-necked and black.

10. When did the pesticide DDT decimate peregrine populations?
(a) 1950s and 1960s.
(b) 1940s and 1950s.
(c) 1970s.
(d) 1950s.

11. In "Deer in the Headlights," when were the ancestors of the herd the author observed brought to the estate?
(a) 17th century.
(b) 15th century.
(c) 18th century.
(d) 16th century.

12. How many people were at the passport office in "Murmurations"?
(a) 25.
(b) 30.
(c) 27.
(d) 34.

13. What type of swans were on the Thames?
(a) Mute swans.
(b) Black swans.
(c) Whooper swans.
(d) Trumpeter swans.

14. When did Macdonald mention that she saw the breath of a fallow buck in "Deer in the Headlights"?
(a) 21 years ago.
(b) Nearly 20 years ago.
(c) About 18 years ago.
(d) 19 years ago.

15. Where did Macdonald once find a dead swift?
(a) Under a bridge over the River Thames.
(b) Backyard.
(c) Woods.
(d) Under a bridge over the River Lyne.

Short Answer Questions

1. In "A Handful of Corn," what creatures did the author's neighbor, Mrs. Leslie-Smith, entice to her garden with cookies?

2. Which of the author's relatives was distressed by storms because of the reminder of the Blitz?

3. After swifts leave their nest hole, how long will they fly?

4. When did Stanley Spencer leave the painting Swan Upping at Cookham unfinished in his bedroom?

5. In "Swan Upping," how old did a waterman say that his swan hook was that broke?

(see the answer keys)

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