species is a word for a particular kind of living thing, for example, a jackdaw. jackdaws and ravens are similar, so they are together in a larger group (taxon) called a genus, in this case "corvus". then there is a family (such as the crow family, which includes crows and ravens as well as jays and magpies). families are put together into orders such as the songbirds, which includes many families of birds. the next group is the class; all birds are in the same class. after that is the phylum, such as vertebrates, which is all animals with backbones. last of all is the kingdom, like the animal kingdom. these are ways to classify living things.