They circled in a slow, ponderous flight, and sometimes one of them would leave the flock, skim the ground, almost inseparable from it, and flap off in the same lethargic flight, until it was far enough away to be silhouetted on the horizon, a black dot. Mersault wiped the steam off the glass and stared greedily through the long streaks his fingers left on the pane.
Shows what Mersault wants (this freedom of a bird) but he is stuck only being a spectator of it. Also the fact that it is a "black bird" could be a metaphor for a crow- the image/symbol of death but if not the fact that it is "black" has connotations of death which could show that even if Mersault gets his freedom, the burden will stick with him, always
