In autumn great flocks of them came to the peninsula, restless, uneasy, spending themselves in motion; now wheeling, circling the sky; now settling to feed on the rich, new-turned soil; but even when they fed, it was as though they did so without hunger, without desire (Chapter 1)

Can you tell me where this cold is coming from? Is it Russia? I’ve never seen such a change … I suppose the weather brought them … Foreign birds maybe, from that Arctic Circle (Chapter 5)

It must have been fright that made them act the way they did”. (Chapter 5)

The announcer’s voice was smooth and suave; Nat had the impression that he treated the whole business as he would an elaborate joke. There would be others like him, hundreds of them, who did not know what it was to struggle in darkness with a flock of birds. (Chapter 6)

Trigg must be crazy. What use was a gun... (Chapter 8)