1. How to hear it:

Stand at the piano (Heintzmann & Company, Toronto) as
long as you can—you might hear it, you might not. The
house has sympathetic vibrations, it rocks in the wind, etc.
How did the piano get here? That one-man piano mover,
what’s his name? Ed Gong. That noise like stripping mask-
ing tape? Cars out on Ashby…Your basic grumble, trucks
and semis—if still no bird, don’t give up. Flutter yourself,
rattle around, that’ll maybe wake the bird.

2. If you’ve heard the unmistakable live, trapped bird, here’s
how to let it out.

Move the piano. It’s on casters, but extremely heavy. More
than a grand. Denser. Move it over. Your bird is not in the
piano itself. There’s an abandoned flue sparrows try to nest
in. They can only fly in, not out. That’s where you come
in. The louver is secured with four perimeter screws. Care-
fully remove it. The bird will not, in my experience, fly out;
may crouch in a corner, possum-like, and you must flush
it out into the room to which you have barred the doors
and opened the windows. And then the fun begins. Hat &
broom, it’s you and the bird.