H.E. Bates Companion

A fragile and troubled woman, frozen in a stultifying and unconsummated marriage, finds her sensuality awakened by a virile admire. The title stems from a vivid dream shared by the woman's lover, in which he catches a rare bird and it talks to him (interestingly, Bates alludes to the rarity of the bird in chapter 3 of another novella of this period, "An Aspidistra in Babylon"). In Woman's Own (February 24, 1962), The Golden Oriole (1962).