120 FAMILY CHARACTERISTICS. 



variety of details in the finish of special parts of 

 the structure, such as the number of toes, the pe- 

 culiarities of the bill, etc., it is impossible to over- 

 look the peculiar form characteristic of each. No 

 one who is familiar with the outline of the Par- 

 rot will fail to recognize any member of that 

 Family by a general form which is equally com- 

 mon to the diminutive Nonpareil, the gorgeous 

 Ara, and the high-crested Cockatoo. Neither 

 will any one, who has ever observed the small 

 head, the straight bill, the flat back, and stiff tail 

 of the Woodpecker, hesitate to identify the fam- 

 ily form in any of the numerous Genera into 

 which this group is now divided. The family char- 

 acters are even more invariable than the generic 

 ones ; for there are Woodpeckers which, instead 

 of the four toes, two turning forward and two 

 backward, which form an essential generic char- 

 acter, have three toes only, while the family form 

 is always maintained, whatever variations there 

 may be in the characters of the more limited 

 groups it includes. 



The Turtles- and Terrapins form another good 

 illustration of family characters. They consti- 

 tute together a natural Order, but are distin- 

 guished from each other as two Families very 

 distinct in general form and outline. Among 

 Fishes I may mention the Family of Pickerels, 

 with their flat, long snout, and slender, almost 



