CHAPTER II. 



SECOND ORDER. PICARI^.* 



This order is a " wayfarers' home," establislied to receive 

 those birds who do not belong elsewhere (in science, a poly- 

 morphic group). The (North American) birds composing it 

 are characterized by the combination of a bill without any cere 

 or soft membrane, and one of the following features : tail- 

 feathers, ten ; foot, syndactyle by the union throughout of the 

 middle and outer toe ; front toes, two in number. There are 

 also internal and other features which are more or less charac- 

 teristic. Either the bill or the toes always present certain 

 peculiarities. 



There is an important element in classification which is 

 often overlooked : that of latent features. These are frequently 

 undeveloped. For instance, the chief, and let us momentarily 

 suppose, the only, difference between the typical Thrushes and 

 Mocking-thrushes is in the tarsus, or so-called " leg." In the 

 latter group it is always scutellate (or divided into scales) — at 

 least, in front ; whereas in the former Thrushes, when adult, it 

 is " booted " (i. e., without scales, unless near the toes). Yet a 

 young Robin with scutellate tarsi is no less a typical Thrush ; 

 his tarsi are virtually " booted," and will become so upon nor- 

 mal growth. Those of a young Catbird never will. Is not 

 abnormal growth frequently due to the persistent latency of 

 normal features ? As another example, the females of two 

 closely allied species may be exactly alike in coloration, size, 



* In the A. 0. U. Cheek-List this or- it impracticable to make the chang-e 



der is not used, the Goatsuckers, Swifts, here, since it would have necessitated 



and Hummingbirds being placed in the rewriting- of much of the original 



the order Macrochires, the King- text, relating- to ordinal and family 



fishers and Cuckoos in Coccyges, and characters, which, of course, was not to 



the Woodpeckers in Pici. I have f oimd be thought of. — W. B. 



