PICID.E. 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 PICIDJE. 



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 

 Picidse 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 



Y 3 



