THE WOOD-TATTLERS. 
275 
had laid together in the same nest.” The duties of incubation 
and the rearing of the young are left entirely to the female 
bird, the male busying himself but little with the bringing up 
of his family. 
Eggs. — Four in number. The ground-colour is generally 
olive, but lighter eggs are found in which the ground is clay- 
brown or stone-colour. The markings vary much both in size 
and intensity, some eggs having the spots elongated and more 
like linear streaks, so that the surface of the egg appears to be 
marbled. The majority, on the other hand, are rather boldly 
spotted and blotched with rufous-brown, almost blackish, 
while some of the larger spots are light brown, almost olive. 
Although in some the large spots are distributed over the 
whole egg, in the majority of specimens they congregate near 
the larger end. The underlying markings are faint purplish- 
grey, and are never very distinct. Axis, r6-r8 inch . ; diam., 
ri-i'3- 
THE WOOD-TATTLERS. GENUS RIIYACOPITILUS. 
Rhyacophilus, Kaup, Natiirl. Syst. p. 140 (1829). 
Type, R. glarcola (L.). 
The genus Rhyacophilus belongs to the long-tailed group of 
Tattlers, in which the bill is short and the length of the tail 
exceeds that of the culmen. The tarsus is long and exceeds 
the culmen in length. The tail is nearly square, and the 
centre feathers are scarcely produced beyond the others. The 
plumes on the chin reach to about the level of the frontal 
line. 
Only one species of Wood-Tattler is known, confined to the 
Old World, where it is very widely distributed. 
I. THE WOOD-TATTLER. RHYACOPHILUS GLAREOLA. 
Tringa glareola, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 250 (1766). 
Totanus glareola, Macgill. Brit. B. iv. p. 346 (1852); Dresser, 
B. Eur. viii. p. 143, pi. 565 (1877) j B. O. U. List Brit. 
B. p. 17s (1883); Saunders, ed. Yarrell’s Brit. B. iii. p. 
463 {1884); Seebohm, Hist. Brit. B. iii. p. 133 (1885); 
Saunders, Man. Brit. B. p. 593 (1889). 
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