THl- BULT.FTXCH 139 



vague sort of inner presentiment of ;ill these things, l)ut 

 as April w as making Nature green and tlie air was getting 

 warmer, it became more restless and more turbulent. It 

 would leave its cage more willingly, fluttering impatiently 

 about the room, hanging on the window-sill or beating 

 lightly against the panes with its bill. 



Surely some mysterious instinct had been telling mv 

 companion about the budding hedges and the free bull- 

 finches who were making love to each other in the pleasant 

 sunlight. It cared no longer for its food, although it was 

 generally very much of an epicure; it disdained its hemj)- 

 seed and biscuit; it had only one object in view : the 

 window ; it would spend hours there as if in a dieam, 

 looking at the trees, whose new leaves the wind was 

 shaking, and which appeared just above the opposite wall 

 beyond. Then another fit of frenzy would seize it; it 

 would pick again at the window-panes, repeatediv utter- 

 ing a low cry which seemed to say : \Miy do you not let 

 me out ? NMiy do you not let me out ? 



One fine morning, finding the window ajar, it flew 

 away while my back Avas turned. 



Dazzled at first by the sunlight and not accustomed to 

 the open air, it did not fly far. At a distance of a few 

 yards from the house, there was a heap of manure in 

 which about a dozen hens were scratching. There the bull- 

 finch halted to make use of its libertv bv huntingfor worms 

 in this fruitful ground. But it had not counted on the in- 



