--- title: Birds and baby animals — a lesson of Mova's school · trees and pragmatics description: «Birds and baby animals», a lesson of the myths course of Mova's primary school, sentence by sentence with dependency trees and pragmatics. It begins: A fluffy chick hops about on the pavement and Molly flings out her arms: "Don't TOUCH it! --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/myths/10-birds-and-baby-animals/) [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/) / [Myths](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/myths/) / Birds and baby animals # 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](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/school-run/myths/10-birds-and-baby-animals/). - [0](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/myths/10-birds-and-baby-animals/0/) — A fluffy chick hops about on the pavement and Molly flings out her arms: "Don't TOUCH it! - [1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/myths/10-birds-and-baby-animals/1/) — Its mum will smell you and never come back!" Everyone freezes, and the chick blinks. - [2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/myths/10-birds-and-baby-animals/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](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/myths/10-birds-and-baby-animals/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](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/myths/10-birds-and-baby-animals/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](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/myths/10-birds-and-baby-animals/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](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/myths/10-birds-and-baby-animals/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](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/myths/10-birds-and-baby-animals/7/) — Uncooked rice does not make birds explode; birds eat seeds and grains all the time. - [8](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/myths/10-birds-and-baby-animals/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](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/myths/10-birds-and-baby-animals/9/) — Hummingbirds migrate on their own, flying amazing distances; they do not ride on geese. - [10](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/myths/10-birds-and-baby-animals/10/) — Swans can hit hard and you should keep away from nesting swans, but there is little evidence of them breaking adults' arms. - [11](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/myths/10-birds-and-baby-animals/11/) — Some penguin pairs meet again year after year, but many penguins change partners between seasons; it depends on the species. - [12](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/myths/10-birds-and-baby-animals/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](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/myths/10-birds-and-baby-animals/13/) — "Bird poop is good luck" is a kind saying to cheer people up, not a fact. - [15](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/myths/10-birds-and-baby-animals/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](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/myths/10-birds-and-baby-animals/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-crawlies](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/myths/9-small-creatures-and-creepy-crawlies/) - next →: [Animals in the sea and the river](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/myths/11-animals-in-the-sea-and-the-river/) - ↑ back to [Myths](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/myths/)