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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. How many beakfuls of mud might it take a Martin to build a nest?

2. How close could the author get to the deer in "Deer in the Headlights"?

3. In America, about how many people died every year after their vehicles collided with deer?

4. What percentage of an increase in hate crimes occurred after the Brexit vote?

5. How big does the author say that swans can be in "The Observatory"?

Short Essay Questions

1. Where were peregrine falcons nesting in "The Falcon and the Tower"?

2. What did upping swans used to include?

3. How does the author describe the painting Swan Upping at Cookham?

4. How were elephant seals involved in a project studying climate change in West Antarctica?

5. What did David Lack discover when working during the war on the early-warning chain of coast-watching radar stations?

6. Why do swans flock to the Welney Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust reserve in the winter?

7. What did the author search for in a disused chalk quarry?

8. When was the British Trust for Ornithology established, and what was its purpose?

9. What does Macdonald say about allergies?

10. What did the author see on display in a university museum in Rostock, Germany?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Macdonald went for a walk with her brother and niece at Wicken Fen. Why did Macdonald’s niece think all the wildlife had been brought to the fen? Why did Macdonald comment that her niece had been raised in a green desert? How did that account for the girl’s surprise that animals could exist in the wild outside of zoos?

Essay Topic 2

A murmuration is formed when a group of starlings flock together. Why do murmurations happen? How are the murmurations of birds similar to the movements of human refugees?

Essay Topic 3

What a reader knows about events and people is determined by the point of view in a book. What is the point of view in the book? How does the point of view influence what readers know about events and the author?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 889 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample