i wonder if you could help me.
i said i wonder if you could help me.
lovebirds.
yes. i understand there are different varieties, it that true?
these are for my sister.  her birthday you see. as she'll be eleven and.  well, frankly, i wouldn't want a pair of birds that were too demonstrative.
as the same time, i wouldn't want birds that were aloof, either.
do you have a pair that are just friendly?
aren't these lovebirds?
the sign says strawberry finches.
those are canaries, miss. doesn't this make you feel awful?
all these innocent little creatures caged up like this?
i suppose not. is there an ornithological reason for keeping them in separate cages?
i imagine that's very important. especially during the moulting season.
are they moulting now?
how can you tell?
yes, i see. about those lovebirds, miss.
all right. she smiles back.
all right, may i see one, please?
shhh! shhhh!
back into your gilded cage, melanie daniels.
i was merely drawing a parallel, miss daniels.
a little birdie told me. good day, miss daniels. madam.
ahhh, but i know you.
we met in court.
that's true. i'll rephrase it. i saw you in court.
do you remember one of your practical jokes that resulted in the smashing of a plate glass window?
no, but your little prank did. the judge should have put you behind bars!
i simply believe in the law, miss daniels, and i'm not too keen on practical jokers.
ahhh, but i really do want those birds.
right. i recognized you when i came in. i thought you might like to know what it felt like to be on the other end of a gag. what do you think of that, miss daniels?
i am. good day. madam.
i'll find something else. see you in court some day.
that was the damndest thing i ever saw.
it deliberately came down at you -- you're bleeding.
come on, let's take care of that.
a gull hit her.
as he tries door of next office. it, too, is locked.
come on, we'd better go up to the restaurant.
deke, have you got a first aid kit back there?
young woman cut herself.
i don't think it's that serious. you want to sit up here?
stop worrying, deke. she was in a boat.
i don't think miss daniels is going to sue anybody.
just some peroxide. i want to clean out the cut.
that's right. what are you doing in bodega bay?
no, san francisco. what are you?
criminal.
not everyone, miss daniels.
i'm sorry. what are you doing up here?
you came all the way up here to bring me those birds?
what for?
i'm sorry. who's your friend?
yes?
well, well, small world. annie hayworth.
how do you know annie?
did you! imagine that! how long will you be staying?
i think we'll have to shave the hair. deke, have you got a razor?
it's still bleeding a little. here, let me put this on.
bend your head down. this little band-aid won't show.
so you came up to see annie, huh?
i don't believe you. i think you came up to see me.
i don't know. but it seems to me you must have gone to a lot of trouble to find out who i was, and where i lived and.
you like me, huh?
what did it say?
can't see a thing.
but you were coming up anyway, remember?
right next to the one you already had.
i had to acknowledge a delivery. mother, i'd like you to meet.
melanie daniels. melanie, my mother.
a delivery, mother. miss daniels brought some birds from san francisco.
for cathy. for her birthday. by the way, where is she?
miss daniels is staying for the weekend. in fact, i've already invited her to dinner tonight.
after all, you did go to the trouble of bringing up those birds.
yes, lovebirds. we couldn't let you.
get away without thanking you in some small way. after all, you haven't even met cathy and you are staying for the weekend.
you are, aren't you?
then it's settled. what time is dinner, mother?
i'll pick you up, miss daniels. where are you staying?
of course, how stupid of me. a quarter to seven, will that be all right?
you're sure now? you won't hire a boat or anything?
seven o'clock then.
we'll be waiting. how's your head now?
hi. annie had no plans, huh? i'm glad you came. are you hungry?
dinner's just about ready. we were out back looking at the chickens. something seems to be wrong with them.
i don't know what good that'll do. chickens won't eat.
caviat emptor, mother. let the buyer beware.
i'm simply quoting the law.
he was watching a ball game on television.
his wife changed the channel.
yes, very.
yes.
i told you. we met yesterday.
yes.
no. i only led her into believing i believed she was.  mother, it's really very complicated.
mother, where did you go to law school?
i suppose so. her father owns a big newspaper in san francisco.
i know, mother.
yes, mother.
i know, mother.
mother?
i think i can handle melanie daniels by myself.
i know exactly what i want, mother.
you'll be able to find your way back, won't you?
i'm in san francisco five days a week. with a lot of time on my hands. i'd like to see you. maybe we could go swimming or something. mother tells me you like to swim.
i guess she and i read the same gossip columns.
mmmm. i like to swim. we might get along very.
you were just a poor, innocent victim of circumstance, huh?
the truth is you were running around with a pretty wild crowd.
who didn't much care for propriety or convention or.
the opinions of others, and you went right along with them, isn't that the truth?
sure. do you really know annie hayworth?
so you didn't go to school together.
and you didn't come up here to see her.
you were lying.
did you really write a letter to me? or was that a lie, too?
what did it say?
but you tore it up.
why?
like jumping into a fountain in rome!
do you expect me to believe?
i'd still like to see you.
i think it could be fun.
it is for me.
what do you want ?
i'm trying to get you to stay for dinner. we're going to have a lot of roast left over.
cheers.
why do you have to rush off? what's so important in san francisco?
you have a job?
what do you do?
like what?
helping travelers.
what about thursdays and fridays?
and fridays? what do you do then?
i'm glad you do.
what?
what'll it say?
no, tell me.
are you all right?
they're gone, mother.
i think he got a little scratch, mother.
they didn't touch anything.
you look a little shaken.
last night? what do you mean?
i don't know, melanie. look, do you have to go back to annie's?
then stay and have something to eat before you start back. i'd feel a lot better.
do you want some mustard with this?
she said something about having to get home to take a call from her mother back east.
take it into the living room, would you, hon?
that road can be a bad one at night, melanie.
yeah, but she'll be hitting all that traffic going back to san francisco.
some cream?
get outside! run!
mother!
cathy, get some matches!
we know what it is, al.
not by the thousands.
yes, but the curtains were drawn.
what are we going to do about it, al?
well.  well.  these birds attacked us.
all right, i'll grant you a bird'll panic in an enclosed room. but, they didn't just get in. they came in! right down that chimney.
these birds were.
that's right. we had a party here this afternoon for cathy. her birthday.
eleven. in the middle of the party, some gulls came down at the children. and miss daniels was attacked by a gull just yesterday after.
does this room look silly?
i can handle it myself.
are you staying?
thanks, al. we'll be all right.
i wanted to change my shirt.
it smelled of the fire.
really? tell me about it.
of birds?
growing a beard.
so they united.
well, they'll go along with anything.
hear!
hear, hear!
take wing!
what it was, probably.
they're probably hungry, that's all. this was a bad summer. they eat berries and.  and nuts, you know, and the hills are all burned out, so they're probably searching for food wherever they can get it.
it's so damn quiet out there.
what do you mean?
i hadn't thought of that. and then the swifts came.
no, they're having a meeting, melanie. your sparrow is standing on a soap box and.
waving his little wings.
melanie, melanie.
no, no.
melanie.
what is it?
that was al on the phone. he wants me to meet him out at the fawcett place. says some detectives from santa rosa'll be there in a little while. will you be all right here?
melanie?
i got here as fast as i could. where's cathy?
he was killed last night. by birds.
hold it just a minute, sebastian.
sebastian, i'm not an alarmist.
i think we're in trouble. i don't know how or why this started, but i know it's here and i know we'd be crazy to ignore it.
yes, the bird war, the bird attack, the bird plague, you can call it what you want to, they're out there massing someplace and they'll be back, you can count on that!
mrs. bundy, why don't you go home and polish your binoculars?
if we don't do something now, if we don't get bodega bay on the move.
do you believe it's true, sebastian?
it's happening. isn't that a good enough reason?
then help me, sebastian. you're an important man in this town. if you'll help, the rest will.
i'm not sure, but.
i only know we've got to drive them away from town -- before they drive us away.
mrs. bundy, you said something about santa cruz. about seagulls getting lost in the fog, and heading in for the lights.
we'll make our own fog.
with smoke.
we'll use smoke pots. like the army uses.
can we go on living here otherwise?
they're back!
stay back in here.
i think they're going.
i think it's safe to get out now.
we've got to get cathy.
the bay doesn't.
the past fifteen minutes. it seems to be a pattern, doesn't it? they strike and disappear, and then they start massing again.
it.  it doesn't look very different, does it? a little smoke over the town, but otherwise.
it may not be last week again for a long long time.
do you want to try your father again?
have we still got power?
is that all?
we're going to need more wood for the fire. we can't let it go out.
i got them all, mother.
i don't know.
that's a chance we have to take.
not now. not while they're massing out there.
i don't know when. we'll see what.
i don't know yet. i think we'll be safe here. let's bring that wood in.
i don't know. we'll break up the furni.
mother! i'm trying my best! i'm.  trying.  my.
let's get the wood. why don't you make us all some coffee, mother?
inland.
maybe.
come on. let's get this wood in.
let them stay in the other room.
i don't know, honey.
i wish i could say. but if i could answer that, i could also tell you why people are trying to kill people.
shhh. shhh.
i thought they'd have stopped by now.
almost two a.m.
how about you?
i wonder if cathy fed them.
you should have left when you wanted to.
you'd have been safe in san francisco.
the power.
wait here. don't move.
we'd better light some of those lamps.
i think they're easing off.
melanie!
melanie, open the door!
melanie!
mother, get a rope!
get a rope!
mother! hurry!
cathy! get a blanket and some bandages!
just lie there and keep still.
i can handle it.
you're doing fine.
they're gone. the same pattern.
we won't be here.
i want to try for san francisco. there are buildings there. steel and concrete!
we have to try it. we can't stay here. melanie needs help. mother, the house won't take another attack.
they won't be.
we'll worry about that when we get there.
what do we have to know, mother? we're all together, we all love each other, we all need each other. what else is there? mother, i want us to stay alive!
you don't have to.
i think we'd better get started.
we'll put them in the trunk, cathy.
be careful with that door.
we'll take it slow until we get to the main road. are you ready?
all right. here we go.
shhh. shhhh.
shhh. shhhhh.
i.  i don't think so. if we get through town, i think we'll be all right.
here we go.
i think they'll be all right, honey.
it looks.  it looks clear up ahead.