Why is rcp so slow?

[cdonawa at uvicctr.uvic.ca]

Does anyone know why rcp takes so long (in the order of seconds) to transfer
a file (say 50K) when nfs takes in the order of 1/10ths of seconds?
I am transfering a 50K file between workstations with their own local disks
(running sunOS 4.0.1).  When I rcp the file, it takes about 8 seconds with a
load factor of approx. 1.0. 

However, if I use a diskless workstation, transfering the file from the
server to my workstation takes under 0.2 seconds, for all load factors
under 6.0 (it's a university environment so there are times I have
unrestricted access and am allowed to manipulate the file server load
factors).

Why is there such a discrepancy?  Rcp initiates the .login and .cshrc on
the target machine when transferring the file, so I figure those are the
culprits, but I do not know enough about Unix to say, and I need to know
absolutely what is happening.

Thanks in advance,

Chris Donawa