

THE VIRGINIA PARTRIDGE. 535. 
Melantho integra Say, Plate 9, figs. 17, 18, 21 and 22. 
This shell is abundant in the Western States. Mr. Binney 
is inclined, from an examination of a large number of speci- 
mens, to believe that it is the same species as the one just 
mentioned, and he may be right, but the weight of authority 
is against him. The differences between the male shell, 
Fig. 22, and the female shell, Fig. 21, are quite marked. 
Melantho coarctata Lea, Plate 9, figs. 12 and 13, occurs in 
South Carolina, Alabama, Mississippi and Arkansas. There 
are other species of this genus in the United States, but 
it was our intention to enumerate only the more prominent 
species of each genus presented. It would be of the highest 
interest for the collector to diligently seek for specimens of , 
this group from all localities, and compare them to see where 
the lines may be drawn between the species. We suggest 
this, since there is so much variance of opinion between 
writers on this subject. Mr. Binney to whom we are much 
indebted for the work which has been so generously pub- 
lished by the Smithsonian Institution, has brought together 
à vast amount of material, and while he may have been too 
conservative, we prefer this, to the lamentable* practice of 
many, in describing from a single specimen. In the speci- 
mens mentioned above we have relied on the accuracy of 
the figures in identifying the species, and for this reason 
the descriptions are either brief or wholly wanting. 

THE VIRGINIA PARTRIDGE. 
BY AUGUSTUS FOWLER. 

Tae Ortyx Virginianus is a resident bird, and was more 
common in former years than at the present time. Thirty 
Years ago a covey of from five to thirty of them could be 
flushed on almost any farm in Essex County. Now one of 
