Early in "The Birds," Du Maurier frequently uses foreshadowing to build anticipation ahead of the birds' attack. One example of this comes in the second paragraph when Nat is eating his lunch and observing the birds from the cliff top:
The birds had been more restless than ever this fall of the year.
This is Du Maurier's first hint at the transformation of the birds' behaviour. Later on, Mr Trigg provides another example of foreshadowing when he relates an incident to Nat:
One or two gulls came so close to my head this afternoon I thought they'd knock my cap off!
These two examples, then, set the scene for the attacks: the birds are more restless and have come closer to humans than ever before.
Finally, Du Maurier uses foreshadowing through the character of Mrs Trigg. When Nat tells her about the attack on his house, for instance, she displays an attitude of scepticism:
"Sure they were real birds?" she said, smiling.
This scepticism foreshadows her own demise at the hands of the birds because it suggests that she might have lived, had she been more believing of Nat's obvious warning.
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