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For a couple of days Harriet saw nothing of Wiz. From her window she could spot the occasional rabbit in the valley below, but she saw no hare.

There was a house martin's next in the eaves just over her window, and she watched one of the parent birds returning from hawking insects.

"In that case, I must remember to make myself scarce," said the hare, "but before that, I'd better make myself into something else. Let's see- how about Carduelis carduelis?"

"What's that?"

"Take a look in your bird book."

Harriet took The Field Guide to the Birds of Britain and Europe from her shelf and looked in the index.

"I found it!" she cried after a moment. "it's a goldfinch!"

And there, perched on her bedpost, was a beautiful little bird with a scarlet, black and white head and black and yellow wings, 16+as colorful as the sparrow had been drab.