158 
OUR BIRDS IN WINTER. 
Yes, my day of delivery at length arrived/^ 
resumed Crossbill, rewarding Mrs. Chick with 
a glance of gratitude for her sympathy. It 
was on the evening of day before yesterday, 
that my master, I suppose I must call him 
such, took me in my cage to a meeting of what 
is called the Society of Naturalists. The 
members were assembled, when I arrived, in a 
large and comfortable room, and were busy 
in the midst of a discussion on the relative 
strength of liquids. My master placed me in 
my cage on a long table that was in the room, 
and listened to the discussion. Some of the 
members took the ground that water possessed 
the greatest strength, and illustrated their ar- 
guments by bringing forward the fact, that, if 
it were not for the strength of water, the mills 
and factories, that are so abundant in the 
whole country, could not, for a moment, be in 
motion. Others — I think they said they came 
from Taunton — disclaimed against the strength 
of water, saying that, so far as their experience 
extended, it was a very weak preparation, giv- 
ing at the same time their belief that whiskey 
