A 
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 
