A review by tasmanian_bibliophile
The Birds by Daphne du Maurier

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5.0

‘It’s the weather …’ 

Nat Hocken, a disabled war veteran, works part time for Mr Trigg at his farm on the Cornish coast. One day in early December, he notices unusually large flocks of birds behaving restlessly. He wonders if they have received a message that winter is coming. 

That night, the weather turns very cold. Nat is awakened by a bird tapping on his bedroom window, and when he opens the window several birds fly at his face, trying to peck his eyes. Then, reacting to his children’s screams, he finds his son and daughter under attack as well. Using a blanket, Nat kills as many birds as he can. In the morning, he clears the bodies of fifty small birds. 

This is just the beginning. Nat’s neighbours don’t believe him. When he walks to the beach to dispose of the dead birds, he realises that what seem to be whitecaps on the sea are actually tens of thousands of gulls riding the waves. They seem to be waiting. On the radio, the BBC reports that birds have been gathering all over Britain and people are being attacked. Nat anticipates another attack and boards up the windows and some of the chimneys on his family’s cottage. 

And I’ll stop there. You know that this is not going to end well. 

Why did I read this short story? In one of the reading challenges I am participating in for 2024, we are invited to read a book which includes a personal phobia. Yes, I have a degree of ornithophobia. Watching the Alfred Hitchcock movie of this story back in the 1960s strengthened this, as did an injury sustained during an attack by a magpie in Canberra in 1974. I am wary but less phobic these days. 

Still, I think that ‘The Birds’ is a far more realistic horror story than some because birds are real. We do not have to imagine their existence. And while most aggressive bird behaviour is territorial and related to caring for their young, I am not totally convinced. 

Feel free to laugh if you want to … 

 Jennifer Cameron-Smith