Basic Details
Word: Bird
Part of Speech: Noun
Meaning: An animal with feathers, wings and a beak that lays eggs. Most birds can fly.
How to Spell Bird
Syllables: bird
Tricky part: The 'er' sound is spelt ir, the same as in girl and first, not ur or er.
Watch out for: berd, birde, buird
Memory tip: A girl watching a bird: both words carry the same ir in the middle.
Idioms and Phrases
- the early bird catches the worm: people who start early or act quickly get the best chances. Example: "Dad reached the ticket counter at six because the early bird catches the worm."
- a bird's-eye view: a view from high above, or a quick overall picture. Example: "From the top of the giant wheel we got a bird's-eye view of the whole mela."
Usage Examples
Example 1: A small bird has built its nest in the mango tree outside my window.
Example 2: In winter, Keoladeo National Park in Bharatpur fills with visiting water birds.
Example 3: We counted fourteen kinds of bird on our school nature walk.
Fun Fact
Feathers are found on no living animal except birds. Some dinosaurs had feathers too, and scientists see birds as their living relatives.
Practise the CREST Way
Spell-o-Spell
Three words in the list are spelt correctly. Choose the meaning of the misspelt word.
1. berd 2. plumage 3. migration 4. predator
a) an animal that hunts and eats other animals
b) a bird's feathers taken all together
c) an animal with feathers, wings and a beak
d) the seasonal movement of animals from one region to another
Show answer
c) an animal with feathers, wings and a beak. Berd is wrong: the sound is spelt ir, as in first, so it must be bird.
Word Makeup
Choose the correctly spelt compound word:
a) dragonfli
b) ladybird
c) grashopper
d) buterfly
Show answer
b) ladybird. Ladybird is a proper compound of lady and bird; the others should be dragonfly, grasshopper and butterfly.
Mingle-Mangle
Rearrange the jumbled letters in the sentence to form the right word:
A rare migratory ridb was spotted near the lake at dawn.
a) bride
b) bard
c) braid
d) bird
Show answer
d) bird. Ridb has just four letters, b, i, r and d, and a migratory bird fits the lake at dawn.
Multiple Choice Questions
1. Pick the animal that is NOT a bird.
a) bat
b) kite
c) crane
d) swift
Show answer
a) bat
2. A scientist who studies birds is called ____.
a) an ornithologist
b) a botanist
c) an entomologist
d) a geologist
Show answer
a) an ornithologist
