The Birds (story)

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"The Birds" is a short story by Daphne du Maurier about farmer Nat Hocken and his family, as massive amounts of birds start attacking them for no apparent reason. It is set in Britain, shortly after the end of World War II. It was the inspiration for Alfred Hitchcock's film of the same name. It is thought to have been inspired by the author watching a man ploughing his field, while some seagulls were wheeling and diving above him; Du Marier developed the idea about of these birds becoming hostile and attacking.

One night, Nat hears tapping in his bedroom window, and when he opens the window to check, he is attacked by what he assumes was a frightened bird. After a while, the tapping continues, and as he opens the window again, a number of birds attack him, and disappear. Then he hears screams in their children's room, and rushes to get them out of there, finding hundreds of small birds flying savagely inside. He tries to fight them, and once again they fly away, except for about fifty of them who lie in the floor dead from crashing against the things in the room. They hope that the birds were only hungry, and if they put bread outside they'll eat and go away.

The next day Nat tells his fellow farmers about the birds, but they give it little importance, saying they were only hungry, and the cold weather had stirred them up. As he goes to the beach to dispose of the dead birds' carcasses, he notices over the sea what looks like dark clouds near the coast, but which he realizes are tens of thousands of seagulls wating for the tide to rise. When he gets home they can hear over the radio that birds are attacking London and many other places in Britain. Nat decides to board the windows up as the seagulls start approaching the fields. After he picks up his daughter from the school bus stop, they have to run home, as the gulls start attacking everything in their path. Many crash mindlessly against the house as the family plan how to survive for a few more days inside the house while someone brings help.

After they hear several planes crash down as the gulls inevitably strike them down, the noise of the birds recedes, as does the tide near the coast. Nat decides to go out to get supplies from the neighbors. As they go out, they notice piles of dead birds around the house, and some others simply staying still on trees and roofs as they watch them go to the neighbors' house. They find the neighbors dead, and thus decide to take all their supplies. They get back in their house, as bigger and bigger birds start attacking. The story ends as they wonder what was the cause for the birds to attack humanity as effortlessly as machines.