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Our December 2016 Short Story selection is The Birds by Daphne du Maurier, published in 1952, about 75 pages.

I"m a du Maurier fan, so I'm hoping to read the whole anthology. Starting with htis story, of course.

I'm a big fan also, the is the book I found at the library that has The Birds in it, Classics of the Macabre, if time allows I'm reading them all.

This was my first Du Maurier story, and I was very impressed with how the story was both thrilling and philosophic in theme. The author's critique of world government was a refreshing surprise, as I was suspecting a simple sci-fi/horror story. I will have to read more in the future.

This will be the first short story I won't read since I started the group. Even the previews for the Hitchcock film forever creeped me out about flocks of birds. Yes I'm too chicken! Have fun everyone.

Sue wrote: "This will be the first short story I won't read since I started the group. Even the previews for the Hitchcock film forever creeped me out about flocks of birds. Yes I'm too chicken! Have fun every..."

Lol! The intro to my anthology talked about Hitchcock's lax approach to filming stories/novels, so that makes me wonder how true to the story the film version is. But I just started it this morning, and it's decently creepy so far.

We're actually forecast to have a huge storm this weekend, and I'm tempted to put it aside until the storm hits to get some added atmosphere. Things are never quite as creepy on a bright sunny day.

There were only two copies in my whole state- yay statewide interlibrary loan- so I placed an order for it. Hope to get midmonth.

Only two copies in the whole state? That seems odd. I have more copies than that available just in my local library system.

Have you tried looking for alternate names/anthologies? It's been published several times.

Here's the Du Maurier collections it should be in:
The Birds and Other Stories
Classics of the Macabre
Kiss Me Again, Stranger
The Apple Tree
Don't Look Now: Selected Stories of Daphne Du Maurier (Not the "and other stories" editions, just the "Selected Stories")
Echoes from the Macabre: Selected Stories

ISFDB.org lists a few more multi-author anthologies where it's been reprinted:

I checked the anthologies but all that's in my library is the movie. Totally ok. I should have in a few weeks.

Bob wrote: "I'm a big fan also, the is the book I found at the library that has The Birds in it, Classics of the Macabre, if time allows I'm reading them all."

Thanks Bob for saying the story was in there. I was looking for a copy of 'The Birds', and couldn't find it other than buying a copy. Now I have a collection I can read. :)

Melanti wrote: "We're actually forecast to have a huge storm this weekend, and I'm tempted to put it aside until the storm hits to get some added atmosphere. Things are never quite as creepy on a bright sunny day."

Now that would be a fun way to read the story. It's been major windy and cold over here. Things are banging around outside and I couldn't help to read the story. I finished it and enjoyed it a lot. I wasn't sure at first because of how it started but things started to really take off. In a way it reminds of I Am Legend, in the way that the attacks on Robert Neville and his house only happen at night.

My gosh the ending. That ending!

I took some notes from my reading for when the discussion gets going.

Melanti wrote: "Only two copies in the whole state? That seems odd. I have more copies than that available just in my local library system.

Have you tried looking for alternate names/anthologies? It's been publis..."

Thanks for the list of story locations. My local library did not have any book with this story. My branch librarian did a computer search, about 10 minutes of looking, and found the book I ordered for another state branch. I didn't ask but as hard as she was looking I got the feeling this was the only copy in the state.

That is similar to what happened to me. I am grateful for the statewide interlibrary loan or I wouldn't be able to read this story.

Melanti wrote: "Sue wrote: "This will be the first short story I won't read since I started the group. Even the previews for the Hitchcock film forever creeped me out about flocks of birds. Yes I'm too chicken! Ha..."

Yesterday on the way to work a flock of birds swarmed my car! It was so creepy. I'm so glad I'm not reading this! I agree, best to read it on a nice sunny day though. ; )

Sue wrote: "Melanti wrote: "Sue wrote: "This will be the first short story I won't read since I started the group. Even the previews for the Hitchcock film forever creeped me out about flocks of birds. Yes I'm..."

Lol! :)

Loretta wrote: "Sue wrote: "Melanti wrote: "Sue wrote: "This will be the first short story I won't read since I started the group. Even the previews for the Hitchcock film forever creeped me out about flocks of bi..."

he he

I couldn't find any copies in my library system, so I'm buying it. Should get it soon, I hope. I'm looking forward to it.

Well, as much as I enjoyed saving this to read for this weekend's rain storms, I'm really glad that I didn't save this for my next camping trip. There's this one marsh where a couple thousand blackbirds roost every night in winter and just before sunset the sky is packed with them all flying around in unison finding the perfect spot to sleep.

Not sure I could have seen that right after reading this story!


It's a very creepy story with a really claustrophobic feel to it.

I liked all the WWII bombing imagery. I wonder what du Maurier's experience during the war was?

Finished yesterday, and was not impressed. I think we should have had at least some explanation of why the birds went mad, and not just fighting-mad but organized-mad. Yeah, right, the seed-and-grass-eating small birds just dreamt of tasting human flesh all these centuries.
Something could surely be invented, and yes, the author doesn't have to put the explanation right out in the open, but in this case it's all too obvious that she didn't have one herself, and that's what I dislike.

@ Melanti. Oh, now that would have been an experience. Where I live we have all kinds of birds about, what we have to really watch for are eagles. They will snatch the cats and dogs in the neighborhood. We also have really large owls, so if the birds were to act like they did in the store around here, the carnage would be horrible. Many people would be dead.

I found the beginning of the story to be kind of slow moving but it did pick up. It was really different from the movie but the feel to it was just very dark, kind of like a feeling of loss and dread. The atmosphere felt like I Am Legend. Have you seen the old Vincent Price movie of I Am Legend? It's called 'The Last Man on Earth". This is what the story reminded me of, instead of the plague driven vampires coming out at night to get him, it's birds.

@Nente, I also would have liked to have an explanation of why the birds started to attack. All we really got was that it was a change in weather from the winds and the dark winter. I kept thinking, "Winter is coming." In a way it reminded me of the movie 'The Happening' by M. Night Shyamalan. How the trees and nature just started to turn on humans. That's how I felt the birds were acting towards the humans, just this odd thing with nature just trying to get rid of us.

I do like the element of not knowing why the birds have attacked and in the way they did. I didn't see it as the herbivore birds just started having this taste of human flesh but attacking humans to kill them because of a threat of some kind. Them being bird zombies without the desire of eating flesh, more of a kill perhaps like rabies. It's odd they only came out at night. The puts in the creepy factor and why I'm reminded of the movie "Last Man on Earth". Just having to fix and prep during the day and try to last through the night.

I really liked the book.

Nente wrote: "Finished yesterday, and was not impressed. I think we should have had at least some explanation of why the birds went mad, and not just fighting-mad but organized-mad. Yeah, right, the seed-and-gra..."

Well, for a full length book or if it were set in a more urban area, I'd probably want some sort of explanation. Or if it took place over a longer period of time. But it's just two or three days out of the lives of one normal rural family who are cut off from any news sources. In this case, I'm happy to be left as much in the dark as the family is, and imagine that there's some scientists hiding away somewhere, frantically working on a solution.


And, besides - I prefer no explanation at all to an explanation that doesn't make sense. And I can't imagine that anyone could make a scientifically plausible reason for the bird's behavior.

RachelvlehcaR wrote: " The atmosphere felt like I Am Legend. Have you seen the old Vincent Price movie of I Am Legend? It's called 'The Last Man on Earth"...."

Not seen the movie, but I've read the book.
The claustrophobic atmospheres do feel somewhat similar, I agree... Especially if you imagine Nat's family to be similar to Robert Neville's family at the start of the plague before he got his civilized bunker set up or before he started trying to figure out what was going on.

Though making that comparison prompts you to think about the future... Is Nat going to loose his wife and kids to the birds like Neville lost his to the plague?
Or will they manage to reinforce their home enough that they survive long enough for the birds to die off or go away?

And it's probably my memory of I Am Legend that makes me think of some guy, somewhere, who is spending this time trying to figure out a solution for the birds.

I finished a bit ago, and I think there was no explanation for the behavior of the birds because it is a metaphor for the WWII bombings by Germany and the potential for more bombings from The Soviet Union. To me, this was a warning against idleness in the face of a threat. Board up your home, protect your family, pay no attention to those who laugh at you, and do what you gotta do. Because people are partying in London, laughing and pointing at the bombers that will later kill them.
In my mind, Nat and his family probably died that night. He DID enjoy his last cigarette, just like it was a last wish before an execution.

I accept the reasons for not including the birds' explanation. I just don't like that (as it seems to me) the author didn't think one up. If she did, why not spare a hint?

Paula, agree with you that they couldn't have seen the morning. And that rather weakens the warning, doesn't it - if it comes to the same in the end?

War is hell. :-(

RachelvlehcaR wrote: "@ Melanti. Oh, now that would have been an experience. Where I live we have all kinds of birds about, what we have to really watch for are eagles. They will snatch the cats and dogs in the neighbor..."

I still have received my copy yet, so I shouldn't really be reading all this. Oh, well.

I really like the Vincent Price version of that story because dealing with the vampires does seem in some ways so ordinary, like a job. The Charleton Heston version is interesting, too, but quite different. More heroic, without the quiet horror and very black humor.

I enjoyed the story from beginning to end. I confess I expected the book to be similar to movie which I last saw about 20 years ago. It’s not even close other than both are stories about really angry birds. I was not bothered about not being given a cause for the birds going nuts. I was more curious about how two people observing the same event have differing opinions on what’s happening. One sees nothing serious amiss, while the other has a premonition of danger and takes defensive measures.

I am intrigued with Paula’s bombing metaphor. However, since this book was published in 1952, which is the same year England joined the nuclear age. I'm inclined to think it was a nuclear bombs not conventional WWII bombs. How else do you explain no radio after the first attack? London would have to be destroyed for that to happen. A Bird attack could cause damage, but not destroy a whole city. They couldn’t break in to the cottage with just boards over the windows. No if this book is a metaphor for something worse than attacking birds, my money is on atomic attack.

As to this ambiguous ending about survival, again I don’t mind not being told whether Nat and his family survive. I like the idea that I have to decide the unknown future. While the odds seem to be stacked against them surviving, I like to think that Nat will find a way to keep his family safe.

Melanti wrote: "Not seen the movie, but I've read the book.
The claustrophobic atmospheres do feel somewhat similar, I agree... Especially if you imagine Nat's family to be similar to Robert Neville's family at the start of the plague before he got his civilized bunker set up or before he started trying to figure out what was going on."

It's a great movie, one of my favorites. The best one based off of I Am Legend. I have also felt the similarities between Nat and Robert because both of them were vets. That is what will pull them through, even if in the end they alone for most of the time then eventually overcome by the plague or birds.

There is the drive and survival around their characters and boarding up the windows and doors, the barbed wire, and finding food from the neighborhood, it was the same feeling.

I also liked Paula's and Bob's metaphor of it as either WWII or Nuclear warfare. That would sure explain the behaviors of people looking up and pointing, more of a spectacle and thinking nothing will happen to us. That view does change how I'd view the story. I'm still on the view of the story as the dreadful dull pain and endless day in and day out of survival and being the only survivors. That's perhaps why I feel the connection with Nat and Robert so much.

I would think his family members would slowly get picked (or pecked) off one by one, and it would be his son that is with him, kind of like The Road. Then again, perhaps, the birds will stop just a sudden as they started and Nat and his family have to try to pick up the pieces and go on with their lives.

My thoughts were along the lines of Paula and Bob's. I saw the birds as a metaphor for nuclear annihilation. Birds as radiation. You're probably not going to be able to keep it out of your home for long. And even if you do, all of society is gone anyway. A very grim scenario.

Because that metaphor worked so well for me, it didn't bother me that there was no explanation. My gut reaction was the humans did something to make the birds go berserk - a disease, parasite, poison or magic spell - and all of humanity ended up paying the price.

I read this story from the collection The Birds and Other Stories. The whole collection was excellent. I'd recommend it to anyone who liked The Birds.

Paula W wrote: "I finished a bit ago, and I think there was no explanation for the behavior of the birds because it is a metaphor for the WWII bombings by Germany and the potential for more bombings from The Sovie..."

I picked up on the WWII bombing metaphors, but I was a little unsure whether the Soviet parts were in there as a direct metaphor or just as a way to add to the atmosphere of fear and paranoia.

What you've said tips it slighty in favor of the direct metaphor interpretation for me.

Paula W wrote: "He DID enjoy his last cigarette, just like it was a last wish before an execution. ..."

Yeah, I agree it was execution imagery. But, still, I'd like to pretend they could live for at least another day or two. He did slightly reinforce the windows and plans to do more in a few hours. And they do have enough firewood to last the night.

Long-term, though, unless the birds vanished or went back to normal, I highly doubt they could survive.

Bob wrote: "How else do you explain no radio after the first attack? London would have to be destroyed for that to happen...."
I can see it playing with the fears of impending war from that decade, but I never really got the feeling that it was nuclear war specifically.

There was lots of references to planes flying in formations - a la the Blitz and other WWII era bombings. There wasn't any imagery of nuclear war that I can recall. No mushroom cloud or lights. And lots of small persistent attacks, not big, devastating ones.

No radio can be explained by no people who know how to turn it on.

Nat's family was saved by having those couple of birds the night before the main attack that made Nat uneasy and credulous. Anyone who didn't have that forewarning was really unlikely to have boarded up their windows. And I imagine apartments in London would be pretty vulnerable to attacks, since your safety would depend on your neighbors to some extent, as well as your own flat.

Nathan wrote: " I saw the birds as a metaphor for nuclear annihilation. Birds as radiation. ..."

Oh! Birds as radiation makes sense too.

I just read this story and really enjoyed it. I expected du Maurier to create an atmospheric story and she didn't disappoint with this. I pretty much agree with what everyone has already said, with the metaphors to WW2 bombing raids, similarities to I am legend (the book, not so much the film). I was also personallly happy with the ambiguous ending, although at first I was slightly disappointed that the story had ended there. I'd have been happy to read another 20 pages to see what happened next to the family, but ultimately I like that it was left to the reader to decide their fate.

I've finished The Birds and also a couple of Du Maurier's other shorts. The Birds doesn't have much of an ending and her story "Not After Midnight" had an odd unsatisfying ending to me, as did "Don't Look Now". It seems as though she wasn't as good at constructing plausible stories, as she was in writing memorable characters and taut moody paragraphs. The two novels of hers that I've read, Rebecca and My Cousin Rachel don't have this trouble, in my opinion. Despite this criticism of these shorts, I'm a big fan and want to read Jamaica Inn some day as well.
Funny thing, when I was reading the 1st few pages of The Birds, I was thinking, wait we don't have some of these birds in the U.S., they're European birds, because I was thinking of the old movie that was set in the U.S. Then I went "oh she was English".

George wrote: "I've finished The Birds and also a couple of Du Maurier's other shorts. Her story "Not After Midnight" had an odd unsatisfying ending to me, as did "Don't Look Now". It seems as though she wasn't a..."

Just to add quickly - Jamaica Inn is brilliant! I hope you enjoy it

I finished The Birds last night and I really enjoyed it. I've read quite a lot of Du Maurier's work and I love her writing so I was optimistic going into The Birds.

Seeing the birds as radiation really clicks with me, especially the first time Nat sees all the gulls on the sea after originally mistaking them for whites of the waves. That sort of creeping feeling of dread.

I can see the strange bird behaviour stopping as unexpectedly as it started. The devastation would be massive as so much was destroyed in just a couple of days, but I can visualise Nat and his family emerging from their home, dead birds everywhere, an eerie silence and finding the bodies of their neighbours and having to rebuild their home and their lives.

Melanti,

Thank you for listing those collections where "The Birds" has been published!

initially my library just seemed to not have this classic, but I performed a search for the titles you listed and I found a possibility!

I've submitted a request that one of two copies be sent. I just hope they haven't gone missing.

I just finished listening to a BBC dramatization of "The Birds."

It had high production values and was a little under an hour in duration for listening.

Now that I've looked at Melanti's list for compilations where it has been published, I may have run one down at the library.

Keeping my fingers crossed that the library actually has a copy!

George wrote: "I've finished The Birds and also a couple of Du Maurier's other shorts. Her story "Not After Midnight" had an odd unsatisfying ending to me, as did "Don't Look Now". It seems as though she wasn't a..."
The audiobook I picked up from the library had "Don't Look Now" in it. I wasn't a fan of the ending of that either. It was pretty silly.

Andrea (Catsos Person) is a Compulsive eBook Hoarder wrote: "Melanti,

Thank you for listing those collections where "The Birds" has been published!.."

You're welcome! Though most of the credit goes to . It's a great resource for locating fantasy, sci-fi, and horror stories.

Read it last night in bed -- first stormy night in months.
I don't think WWII bombing is a subtext, since Nat's too aware of that himself. Radiation, a frightening sense that something is very wrong with the world, makes sense to me. Also the hive-mentality of the birds is scary and reminds me of Village of the Damned and those creepy blond kids communicating telepathically. The birds are intelligent, but not in the way humans are. The line on the last page about the millions of years of memory stored in their little brains... Maybe animals are angry with humans for what they've done to the earth. Or maybe just naturally hostile.

This is my first encounter with du Maurier and I'm really enjoying it. The prose is atmospheric with some great imagery and the creation of tension and dread is suprisingly subtle, considering what the story is about and the scope of events. I remember the Hitchcock film as much more melodramatic.

The stories I've read so far (Monte Verita & Victor, The Birds, The Apple Tree) share a similar kind of almost secrecy. I definitely prefer it in The Birds. Any explanation for the birds' behaviour would have distracted from the general mood of fear, isolation, powerlessness etc. without adding anything of value, I think.

While I was reading, I thought about the story in more general terms, regarding the vulnerability of human civilisation and how little it takes to turn order into chaos. In hindsight, I agree with Melanti and Paula's idea about WWII bombings (with the Plymouth mentions, likening the birds to military machinery etc.). I also like Bob's idea of a nuclear strike.

I see the ending similar to Jane. Within the context of the story, I think it's equally likely that they either die in a couple of days or that the birds suddenly turn back to normal and Nat and his family are left behind to face the aftermath.

I'm definitely intrigued by her work, so I'm going to read the rest of my collection and try one of her novels later. For those who have read her before, what would be a good place to start?

Nix wrote: "I'm definitely intrigued by her work, so I'm going to read the rest of my collection and try one of her novels later..."

Her best known novel is Rebecca, which is excellent, and was a previous group read.

Jamaica Inn was another group read here, though I didn't like it nearly as much. It was more of a mystery/suspense than this one.

I keep hearing My Cousin Rachel recommended as being almost as good as Rebecca. I just bought a copy , so I can't vouch for it myself, but everyone around here seems to like it.

The House on the Strand is a trippy time travel novel. I thought it was pretty neat but not one to read if you want a plausible explanation - there is one, but it has so many holes in it it can't hold a drop of water. Du Maurier really isn't good at giving explanations for supernatural events. (Which is part of why I didn't mind her not giving one for this story - cause it probably wouldn't have made any sense anyway.)

Melanti, I'd agree with that and place Rebecca and My Cousin Rachel equally. Jamaica Inn was also good but not quite in the same league for me.

Nix wrote: "Any explanation for the birds' behaviour would have distracted from the general mood of fear, isolation, powerlessness etc. without adding anything of value, I think."

Yes- without an explanation we have the fear of something we don't really understand, which can be much greater, like the fear we had with the virulent avian flu outbreak in China a few years ago. I liked how Nate discovered the pattern with the tides though.

I would give Rebecca a slightly higher rating than My Cousin Rachel, but both are excellent.

Nix wrote: "This is my first encounter with du Maurier and I'm really enjoying it. The prose is atmospheric with some great imagery and the creation of tension and dread is suprisingly subtle, considering what..."

Rebecca! I started out with that book and it got me hooked.

Simone wrote: "Read it last night in bed -- first stormy night in months.
I don't think WWII bombing is a subtext, since Nat's too aware of that himself. Radiation, a frightening sense that something is very wro..."

"Radiation, a frightening sense that something is very wrong with the world"

I like the way you put this. This is exactly what I meant about the gulls; that sense of dread and creeping panic.

Melanti wrote: "Her best known novel is Rebecca, which is excel..."

Thank you, Melanti and everyone else! I'll have a look at those. :)

George wrote: "Yes- without an explanation we have the fear of something we don't really understand, which can be much greater, like the fear we had with the virulent avian flu outbreak in China a few years ago. I liked how Nate discovered the pattern with the tides though."

Yes, exactly. The concept of the story could work for many different calamities.

And even if we're just talking about the story itself. I'm pretty sure that each reader can't help imagining the worst possible scenario in their own mind without du Maurier having to spell it out.

I liked the thing with the tides too. At first, I thought how brave it was to trust his theory enough to actually go outside, but then, of course, I realised that they had no real choice. What else were they going to do? They were out of options.

Nix wrote: "This is my first encounter with du Maurier and I'm really enjoying it. The prose is atmospheric with some great imagery and the creation of tension and dread is suprisingly subtle, considering what..."

Nix this was my first reading of de Maurier as well. I'm looking forward to reading more of her works.

I really enjoyed this short story. Thanks to the book club, else I wouldn't have heard about this. I found the story very suspenseful and it flashed like a movie through my mind while I read it. Also enjoyed reading through this book discussion and I agree that the birds representing nuclear radiation theory is very plausible.

One thing which bothered me was this:
When Nat, his wife and kids go to their neighbour Triggs farm the next day to get supplies, he finds the bodies of the couple, but the cows in the farm are perfectly fine and alive (and bellowing because no one milked them) . If the birds are really that hungry, why didn't they eat the cows? Maybe human flesh is more delicious to avian taste buds?

Missy J wrote: "One thing which bothered me was this:
When Nat, his wife and kids go to their neighbour Triggs farm the next day to get supplies, he finds the bodies of the couple, but the cows in the farm are perfectly fine and alive (and bellowing because no one milked them) . If the birds are really that hungry, why didn't they eat the cows? Maybe human flesh is more delicious to avian taste buds?"

Personally, I assumed that it was the point of the story that the birds were specifically after humans.