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 1 t, 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 



