78 THE BIRDS OF SHERWOOD FOREST. 
of tone, and is certainly more sustained. It is more 
abundant in this delightful and secluded spot than any- 
where I know, and I have frequently found its nest 
placed in some of the low bushes under the trees at the 
lower end of the lake. It is usually formed of goose- 
grass, mixed with small roots, and lined thinly with hair, 
and sometimes with a little wool. I took a nest of this 
species which was built of fine goose-grass and slender 
fibres of a uniform thickness, looking exactly like black 
and tarnished brass wire, and the singularity of the 
appearance was increased by the lining of long black 
horsehairs, which, as well as the materials forming the 
body of the nest, were laid in concentric circles with 
hardly any interlacing; the whole formed a rather 
loose yet neat structure. It was placed in a small box- 
tree about three feet from the ground, and contained 
four eggs. The kitchen gardens at Thoresby are also 
frequented by the garden warbler, where they are very 
partial to strawberries and raspberries. 
The Whitethroat (S. cinerea) is one of our commonest 
summer visitors, and its loud and lively song is con- 
stantly heard in our hedges and gardens. It is always 
amusing, for it seems as if it was ever in a hurry to get 
through its varied song. This is frequently interrupted, 
like that of the sedge warbler, by an exact imitation of 
the chirp of the house sparrow, and it was especially 
remarkable in a pair that built in my own garden for 
several years together, and which, from frequenting the 
same spot for the erection of their nest, 1 judged to be 
the same pair. A nut-tree was the place always chosen 
by the male bird from which to pour forth his song, and 
from a seat underneath I could watch him without being 
perceived. His body was in incessant motion, the wings 
