Unseen Passage for Class 6 | Passage 3 A myth has been built around the pelican, one of the oldest surviving birds. It is a commonly held belief

Unseen Passage for Class 6 | Passage 3

A myth has been built around the pelican, one of the oldest surviving birds. It is a commonly held belief that the mother feeds her chicks on her own blood. So people have regarded the pelican as most affectionate and dutiful bird.

The large bill of the bird makes it very easy to recognize it. It has a short tail, short legs, long wings and a large bag under its bill. Because of its webbed toes, the pelican finds walking on the land difficult.

However, it is a delight to watch these birds in flight. The pelican has figured among the largest of birds. It has a wing span of up to 2.75 meters, and weighs between 4.5 and 11 kg. It lives in places with a moderate climate. It migrates to India, Africa and Iran in winter because its wings do not give sufficient protection against the cold. The brown pelican is the smallest of the pelicans. It dives its head long into water from quite a height to get at its prey. The other six species of pelicans have a white plumage.

Pelicans are very sociable birds. They travel, rest, nest and even fish together. The young pelicans take wing when they are about two months old. The nests of pelicans are far from the source of any food. Therefore, the adults have to fly great distances to get food.

 

1. Below you can find a summary of the above passage. Fill in each blank with one word/phrase to complete it.

Pelican is one of the oldest (a)____________ birds.

It is believed that its young ones are fed by the mother’s (b)__________ .

Perhaps due to this, pelican is regarded as the (c) _______ and dutiful bird.

It has long (d)______________ webbed feet and a very short tail.

pelican finds it difficult to walk on land because of its (e) _______.

It lives in places where the climate is (f) _______.

In all there are (g) _______ species of pelicans.

2. Find words from the above passage that mean the same as

(a) enough

(b) friendly

 

Answers:

1. (a) surviving

(b) own blood

(c) most affectionate

(d) wings and

(e)  webbed toes

(f) moderately cold

(g) seven

2.

(a) sufficient

(b) affectionate