IELTS35 - 12.10.

2021

Mock Test 1
Reading (Academic)

READING PASSAGE 1

You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 1-12, which are based on Reading Pas-
sage 1 below.

The
Smallest
Bird
in the
World
A. Related to most other North American hummingbirds, the bee hummingbird is
so named because it is roughly the size of a honeybee, a proportion that has won
it the title of smallest bird in the world. Taxonomically, the bee hummingbird is
referred to as mellisuga helenae, which is a name that reflects its feeding pattern.
‘Mellifluence’ suggests sweetness, ‘suga’ to suck and ‘helen’ refers to the bee hum-
mingbird’s torch shaped beak. While the female is slightly larger than the male,
the average bee hummingbird is approximately 1.6–2 grams and 5–6 centimetres
in length. It has an average wingspan of only 3.25 cm and boasts a bill that is
markedly shorter than other species of hummingbirds. Gender differentiation is
rather easy, as the female is both larger and lacks the pink throat found among
males.

B. As with other hummingbirds, the bee hummingbird responds to a scarcity of food

by going into torpor, a state similar to hibernation, where the bird’s metabolism is
 slowed to 1/15th its normal rate. Its aerial capabilities are multi-fold. Not only can
the bee hummingbird hover in midair and fly backwards, it can also accelerate to
speeds exceeding 15 metres per second. The bee hummingbird is only capable
of such feats because of its remarkable ability to beat its wings an estimated 80
times per second. Hovering allows the bird to feed on the nectar of flowers; a
staple of the bee hummingbird’s diet. In this manner, the bee hummingbird once
again resembles the bumblebee, as it assists in the pollinating of flowering plants.
At the height of spring, the bee hummingbird may visit up to 1500 different flow-
ers in a single day.

C. The bee hummingbird, endemic to Cuba, has a proclivity to reside in dense forests
and woodland edges and typically will not venture far from where its born during
its lifetime. The bird’s patchy distribution has been found chequered across the
geographical areas of Havana, Sierra de Anafe, Guanahacabibes Peninsula, Za-
pata Swamp, Jucaro, Moa, Cuchillas del Toa, Sierra Cristal, Mayarí and the coast of
Guantánamo. Today, the smallest bird in the world is rare, and its numbers have
diminished enough that it is qualified as “near-threatened” by the IUCN (Interna-
tional Union for Conservation of Nature). This decline in numbers is mostly due to
the destruction and modification of the bee hummingbird’s basic habitat. Be-
cause of Cuban land cultivation for cattle, tobacco, coffee and cocoa production,
the bee hummingbird’s natural habitat has been reduced to 20% of what it was in
1900. This sad trend is unfortunately continuing unabated.

D. For sustenance, the bee hummingbird habitually favours high fructose flowers
and plants and has been known to feed regularly on the solandra grandiflora
plant (translated to “cup of gold wine plant”). Protein sources are supplemented
by ingesting small insects and spiders. Also known to be territorial, bee hum-
mingbirds tend to defend feeding areas from bumblebees, hawk moths and each
other using frenetic aerial displays of dominance. Having an extremely high
metabolism, bee hummingbirds feed constantly and often consume up eight
times their body mass in a single day. When feeding, their straw like tongues can
extend and retract up to 13 times per second.

E. Throughout most of its life, bee hummingbirds are solitary creatures. They do not
exist in communities and congregate only during mating season. Male bee hum-
mingbirds select a patch of ground known as a lek from which they sing to fertile
females. These songs vary from high-pitched notes and twittering to squawking.
Females choose mates based on virility and lek suitability, and it is not uncom-
mon for both male and female bee hummingbirds to have more than one partner
in a given mating season. After mating, the female builds a small cup shaped
nest from plant fibers anywhere from 3 to 20 feet above the ground. Measuring
only about 3 cm in diameter, the nest exterior is then coated with moss for added
camouflage. On average, the female bee hummingbird will lay two pea-sized
eggs from which her young are born blind, bald and immobile. The female alone
is responsible for protecting and feeding these young on her regurgitated food.
In fact, studies have shown the average nesting female can capture and consume
 up to 15 insects a day.

F. Among human societies, hummingbirds (and with them bee hummingbirds) are a
source of myth, folklore and religion. To many indigenous tribes in the Americas,
hummingbirds represent resurrection and health due to their ability to appear
dead in torpor. The Aztecs were known to wear talismans made of bee humming-
bird parts and feathers, decorations considered emblematic of power, prestige
and potency. The great Aztec God, Huitzilopochtli, was given the name simply
for the reason that saying it resembles the sound of hummingbird wings. Among
the Nazca lines in Peru, illustrations of hummingbirds have been found on animal
pelts.

G. The bee hummingbird and its hummingbird relatives have thus awed and in-
spired observers for centuries and are creatures humanity should work towards
preserving.