Genre: Science #1

Up and Down the Heights

One cannot help falling into the speculative mood in view of the
sharp contrasts between the birds of the East and those of the West.
Why does the hardy and almost ubiquitous blue jay studiously avoid
the western plains and mountains? Why do not the magpie and the
long-crested jay come east? What is there that prevents the indigo-
bird from taking up residence in Colorado, where his pretty western
cousin, the lazuli finch, finds himself so much at home?...
Perhaps the reason is largely, if not chiefly, physiological.
Evidently there are birds that flourish best in a rare, dry
atmosphere, while others naturally thrive in an atmosphere that is
denser and more humid. The same is true of people. Many persons
find the climate of Colorado especially adapted to their needs...Others
soon learn that it is detrimental to their health. Mayhap the same
laws obtain in the bird realm.
The altitude of my home is eight hundred and eighty feet above
sea-level; that of Denver, Colorado, six thousand one hundred and
sixty, making a difference of over five thousand feet, which may
account for the absence of many eastern avian forms in the more
elevated districts...
... Suppose an eastern blue jay should be carried to the top of
Pike's Peak, or Gray's, and then set free, how would he fare? Would
the muscles and tendons of his wings have sufficient strength to
bear him up in the rarefied atmosphere? One may easily imagine that
he would go wabbling helplessly over the granite boulders, unable to
lift himself more than a few feet in the air, while the pipit and
the leucosticte, inured to the heights, would mount up to the sky
and shout "Ha! ha!" in good-natured raillery at the blue tenderfoot.
And would the feathered visitor feel a constriction in his chest and
 be compelled to gasp for breath, as the human tourists invariably
do? It is even doubtful whether any eastern bird would be able to
survive the changed meteorological conditions, Nature having
designed him for a different environment.

1. According to the text, the main reason why different types of birds settle in different
environments is due to
A. the proximity to people in the area
B. the stability of the weather in a region
C. the birds’ body makeup and functioning
D. the presence of different species in a location
E. the birds’ coloring and ability to camouflage themselves

2. Read these sentences from paragraph 2 of the passage.

"Many persons find the climate of Colorado especially adapted to their needs...Others soon
learn that it is detrimental to their health."

The author includes these sentences to

A. allow readers to compare bird physiology to human physiology
B. provide readers with an entertaining story about birds and people
C. assist readers in visualizing what eastern and western birds look like
D. give readers an appreciation for how different birds’ physiologies work
E. help readers better understand how physiology affects where a bird lives

3. In paragraph 4, the word “inured” means

A. robust C. frightened
B. qualified D. powerless
E. accustomed

4. The author’s tone about eastern and western birds throughout the passage can be described as
A. comic C. pensive
B. candid D. confused
E. awestruck

5. The organization of the text can be described as

A. a description of eastern bird behavior that will later be compared to western birds in the
text
B. a series of questions about eastern and western bird habits that will later be explored in
the text
C. a highlight of the problems with eastern and western bird behavior that will later be
solved in the text
D. an introduction of some theories about eastern and western birds that will later be
debunked in the text
E. an outline of the causes of eastern and western bird behaviors that will later lead to their
effects in the text