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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. How did a British officer survive prison camps in Germany?

2. When did Luit Buurma begin making radar observations in the Netherlands for flight safety purposes?

3. In the mid-1970s, what trees did the author watch with her mother being torn up and burned?

4. When did the author mention that most deer-vehicle collisions occured?

5. In "Deer in the Headlights," when were the ancestors of the herd the author observed brought to the estate?

Short Essay Questions

1. What happened to the orioles in Britain?

2. What encounter did Macdonald have with a swan at the Jesus Lock?

3. Where were peregrine falcons nesting in "The Falcon and the Tower"?

4. What did the author and her mother see and hear in "Berries" while running errands?

5. Why does Macdonald state that deer are dangerous animals?

6. How were elephant seals involved in a project studying climate change in West Antarctica?

7. What did the author see on display in a university museum in Rostock, Germany?

8. What did David Lack discover when working during the war on the early-warning chain of coast-watching radar stations?

9. When was the British Trust for Ornithology established, and what was its purpose?

10. What does Macdonald say that she did and did not know about deer?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Genre is a means of classifying literature. What is the genre of the Vesper Flights? Why is it not biography?

Essay Topic 2

Birds migrate, usually to warmer climates. What migrations does the author describe that she witnessed? Why is migration such a dangerous endeavor?

Essay Topic 3

How does the author use analogies in the book? How do analogies help readers understand unfamiliar ideas or understand events or concepts in the essays?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 936 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample