52 THE BIRDS OF SHERWOOD FOREST. 
scattered, loose order, in a series of undulations, and 
seldom for any great distance at a time, sometimes 
alighting on the ground and searching for food, at others 
perching on the tops of the highest trees. I have found 
them on these occasions very wary and difficult to 
approach, one of the party apparently acting as sentinel, 
and on the alarm—a loud harsh note—being given, the 
flock take wing one after the other, and never, as far as 
I have observed, simultaneously. 
After they have paired, orchards and gardens are their 
favourite breeding places. A large pear tree in a garden 
near my own was chosen several years together, evidently 
by the same pair, as the site for their nest ; it was placed 
on a large bough, close to the trunk, and was by no 
means so carefully concealed as is usually the case with 
this species. I have often been amused by their pug- 
nacity, especially after the eggs were hatched, any bird 
that came near their domicile being instantly chased 
away. ‘The pleasure grounds at Thoresby are much fre- 
quented by them, and I have found their nests on oak 
trees in the midst of the forest; one that I took on 
May 11, 1853, was placed in the fork of an oak, about 
twenty feet from the ground. 
Mr. Rennie is rather severe on writers who, in de- 
scribing the nest of the missel thrush, have omitted to 
mention that mud or clay is used in its construction. 
He and many other naturalists describe the skeleton of 
the nest as being composed of twigs, incorporated with 
clay ; while, on the other hand, authors of equal obser- 
vation and veracity leave out the mud or clay altogether. 
I am inclined to believe that it is much as with the 
travellers who disputed about the colour of the chameleon, 
“both are right, and both are wrong.” My opinion is 
