根据参加托福考试的同学回忆，近两年经常考到一篇关于quelea这种鸟类的文章，那么今天新航道托福小编就带大家一起来了解一下这种地球上最常见的鸟类吧。

　　红嘴雀鸟quelea（/ˈkwiːliə/），也被称为红嘴织布机或红嘴恐龙，是一种小的——长约12厘米，重15-26克——麻雀状鸟，原产于撒哈拉以南非洲的非洲。

　　Queleas主要以一年生草（annual grasses）的种子为食，它的数量如此之多，以至于它经常破坏粮食作物，并通过栖息而折断树枝。用毒药、凝固汽油弹、病原体和电子设备控制等方法都不太成功；当食物用完时，该物种会迁移到最近降雨和大量草籽的地方。

　　该物种避开森林、沙漠和高海拔地区和南非南部等寒冷地区,用挂在荆棘树枝、甘蔗或芦苇上的草条编织的椭圆形屋顶巢穴,周围数英里的每棵灌木和树木都可能包含数百个球状巢穴，这些巢穴是由雄性建造的。每对夫妇都有两三个幼崽，一年内可能会徘徊数百英里，然后轮流繁殖。
　　它被认为是地球上数量最多的鸟类，繁殖后总数量有时达到峰值，估计为15亿个体，但是除了鸟类学专家和在当地见过这种小鸟的人之外，大部分人都没有听说过它。

　　接下去我们来看看阅读文章中对这种鸟类的相关描述吧～
　　The red-billed quelea is a small, mostly brown bird found in the annual grasslands of Africa. Other than ornithologists and the people who see the bird in its native habitat, almost no one has ever heard of the little quelea, although, with a population estimated at 10 billion, it may be the most common bird on Earth.
　　Queleas feed on native annual grasses. Any animal that feeds primarily on the seeds of annual grasses has a potentially major problem—its food supply periodically appears and then disappears. If they are to survive, queleas must also cope with the challenging feast-or-famine situation attending annual-grass feeders.
　　Since red-billed queleas feed on the seeds of annual grasses, they are preadapted to be effective feeders on the seeds of domesticated annual grasses as well. As human agriculture has planted more and more cereal grains across Africa, the numbers of quelea have exploded in response to the abundance of suitable food.