PICID®. 245 
general persecution and massacre of the birds 
included in this division, and certainly no case can 
be proved against them to justify their wholesale 
destruction by means of poisoned grain. My own 
belief is that were such a destruction accomplished, 
the loss produced by it would give both the farmer 
and the gardener a very good reason for any amount 
of grumbling. 
SCANSORES.—Family Picipa. 
The various species included in the division 
of the great Insessorial order which now claims 
our attention, the Scansores, or climbing birds, 
differ much both in habits and formation from 
any of the species yet noticed. In the family which 
is generally placed first amongst the Scansores, the 
Picids or Woodpeckers, the difference of formation 
is very considerable: the feet of all the British 
species belonging to this family have two toes before 
and two behind, the outside toe on each foot being 
reversed and turned backwards, which gives these 
birds great facility in their usual occupation of 
climbing the stems and branches of trees: they are 
also assisted in this by the formation of the breast- 
bone, the keel or upright portion of which is 
extremely narrow: this entails a certain loss in the 
power of flight, but is of great use in enabling the 
bird to keep an upright position against the stem of 
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