Pleased when bird joins a band (4,1,4)
I believe the answer is:
cock a hoop
'pleased' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'bird joins a band' is the wordplay.
'bird joins' becomes 'cock' (I am not sure about this - if you are sure you should believe this answer much more).
'band' becomes 'hoop' (hoop is a kind of band).
'cock'+'a'+'hoop'='COCK-A-HOOP'
'when' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for cock a hoop that I've seen before include "top of the world" , "in very high spirits" , "Excited" , "ecstatic" , "in raptures" .)