--- title: The aviary: the walk-through tropical house — a lesson of Mova's school · trees and pragmatics description: «The aviary: the walk-through tropical house», a lesson of the biology course of Mova's primary school, sentence by sentence with dependency trees and pragmatics. It begins: A walk-through aviary is a huge netted house where birds fly free over your head while you walk along the paths, and two sets --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/93-the-aviary-the-walk-through-tropical-house/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [school](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/) / [Biology](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/) / The aviary: the walk-through tropical… # The aviary: the walk-through tropical house Lesson 93 of the biology course of Mova's primary school: 17 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](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/school-run/biology/93-the-aviary-the-walk-through-tropical-house/). - [0](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/93-the-aviary-the-walk-through-tropical-house/0/) — A walk-through aviary is a huge netted house where birds fly free over your head while you walk along the paths, and two sets of doors stop anyone flying out. - [1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/93-the-aviary-the-walk-through-tropical-house/1/) — Every bird there shows a different way to live: hummingbirds hover like tiny helicopters at sugar water, a toucan tosses a grape up and catches it, a kookaburra laughs from a branch. - [2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/93-the-aviary-the-walk-through-tropical-house/2/) — Colours and beaks have reasons: a scarlet ibis is red because of the red pigments in its crabs and shrimps, and a toucan's giant beak is light and full of air spaces. - [3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/93-the-aviary-the-walk-through-tropical-house/3/) — Keepers watch closely, because birds hide illness; a bird weighed in a cup on a scale can tell the keeper it is unwell long before it looks ill. - [4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/93-the-aviary-the-walk-through-tropical-house/4/) — In The Lion King, Zazu is a red-billed hornbill; real hornbills do not talk or serve kings, but the beak and the African savanna are true to life. - [6](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/93-the-aviary-the-walk-through-tropical-house/6/) — Scarlet ibises get their red colour from pigments in the crabs and shrimps they eat, so zoos add the pigment to their food to keep them red; without it, new feathers grow in paler. - [7](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/93-the-aviary-the-walk-through-tropical-house/7/) — Hummingbirds beat their wings up to about 80 times a second, can fly backwards, drink nectar many times an hour because hovering burns so much energy, and save energy at night in a deep sleep called torpor. - [8](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/93-the-aviary-the-walk-through-tropical-house/8/) — A hornbill's huge beak is mostly hollow and light, and a female hornbill seals herself into a tree hole with mud while the male feeds her through a slit. - [9](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/93-the-aviary-the-walk-through-tropical-house/9/) — Many pheasants come from Asia; the males are colourful to impress, while the brown females sit on the nest and need to hide. - [10](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/93-the-aviary-the-walk-through-tropical-house/10/) — The common pheasant in British fields was brought from Asia long ago for hunting. - [11](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/93-the-aviary-the-walk-through-tropical-house/11/) — Swans, many parrots and albatrosses keep the same partner for years, and some albatross pairs stay together for 50 years or more. - [12](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/93-the-aviary-the-walk-through-tropical-house/12/) — Many birds that eat seeds feed their chicks insects for protein, and a pair of blue tits can bring around 10 000 caterpillars to one brood; most birds nest in spring, when insects are most plentiful. - [13](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/93-the-aviary-the-walk-through-tropical-house/13/) — The Australian kookaburra's call sounds like loud laughter, and families call together at dawn and dusk to say «this is our land». - [14](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/93-the-aviary-the-walk-through-tropical-house/14/) — Keepers weigh birds often, because sick birds hide illness, since in the wild a weak-looking bird is more likely to be caught, and losing weight is often the first sign. - [15](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/93-the-aviary-the-walk-through-tropical-house/15/) — Zoos ask visitors not to pick up feathers, for hygiene and because feathers of some protected birds may not be kept without a permit; birds replace feathers in a moult. - [16](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/93-the-aviary-the-walk-through-tropical-house/16/) — A toucan throws food up and catches it in its beak tip, and the beak also lets out heat like a radiator to help the bird cool down. - [17](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/93-the-aviary-the-walk-through-tropical-house/17/) — Parrots and toucans have two toes pointing forward and two pointing back, while most perching birds have three forward and one back. - ← previous: [The aquarium: jellyfish, octopuses, sea stars and the deep sea](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/92-the-aquarium-jellyfish-octopuses-sea-stars-and-the-deep-sea/) - next →: [Parrots, flamingos and the bird of prey show](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/94-parrots-flamingos-and-the-bird-of-prey-show/) - ↑ back to [Biology](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/)