THE TRUE TATTLERS. 
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THE TRUE TATTLERS. GENUS TOTANUS. 
Totanus, Bechst. Orn. Taschenb. ii. p. 282 (1803). 
Type, T. calidris (Linn.). 
The representatives of this genus are distinguished from the 
foregoing by their shorter bill, which never exceeds the length 
of the tail, though the cuhnen is longer than the middle toe 
and claw. The bill is nearly straight, but with the tip slightly 
curved downwards, and the tarsus is longer than the middle 
toe and claw. The outer toe is joined to the middle one by a 
basal membrane, but the inner toe has only a slight web, and 
is cleft nearly to the base. 
Five species of the genus Totanus are known, of which three 
are found in the Old World, viz., T. fuscus, T. calidris, and T. 
otagnatilis, while America has two species, T, mdamhucus and 
T. flavipes. 
I. THE SPOTTED RED-SHANK. TOT.ANUS FUSCUS. 
{Plate XC.) 
Scolopax fusca, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 243 (1766). 
Totanus fuscus, Macgill. Brit. B. iv. p. 328 (1852) ; Dresser, B. 
Eur. viii. p. 165, pis. 568, 569 (1875); B. O. U. List Brit. 
B.p. 176 (1883); Saunders, ed. Yarrell’s Brit. B. iii. p. 474 
(1883); Seebohm, Hist. Brit. B. iii. p. 145, pi. 32, figs. 
4-6 (1885)4 Saunders, M.an. Brit. B. p. 603 (1889); 
Sharpe, Cat. B. Brit. Mus. xxiv. p. 409 (1896). 
Adult Male in Breeding Plumage.— General colour above sooty- 
black, the head uniform ; the hind-neck varied with white 
fringes and spots on the feathers, many of which are barred 
with brown ; scapulars also blackish, with broader white spots 
and edges; wing-coverts blackish, edged with white, and 
notched with white on both webs ; the greater coverts more 
distinctly barred and notched with white ; bastard-wing, pri- 
mary-coverts, and primaries bronzy-brown, the latter white on 
the inner web and freckled with browm ; the secondaries barred 
with w'hite and brown, the brown bars irregular in shape, and 
producing a mottled appearance; the innermost secondaries 
bronzy-brown, notched with white or browmish-w’hite on both 
webs ; the lower back pure white ; rump and upper tail-coverts 
