CHAR. Nostrils protected by a naked scale. The tarsi bare and
scutellate.
The _Perdicidæ_ differ from the Grouse in the bare legs and naked nasal
fossæ. They are much smaller in size and more abundant in species.
They are widely distributed over the surface of the globe, a large
number belonging to America, where the subfamilies have no Old World
representatives whatever. The head seldom, if ever, shows the naked
space around and above the eye, so common in the TETRAONIDÆ; and the
sides of the toes scarcely exhibit the peculiar pectination formed by a
succession of small scales or plates.