bird has flown, the
the bird has flown
Someone or something has left, fled, escaped, etc.; someone or something is no longer here. I'm afraid you're not going to find him here. The bird has flown.
bird has flown, the
The individual sought has gone away, as in Jean hoped to meet her editor at long last, but when she arrived the bird had flown. This idiom has been used for an escaped prisoner, and more generally, as in 1655 by William Gurnall ( The Christian in Complete Armour): "Man ... knows not his time ... he comes when the bird is flown." [Mid-1600s]
See also: bird