How we cite our quotes: All quotations are from The Birds.
Quote #4
MELANIE: On Mondays and Wednesdays, I work for the Traveler's Aid at the airport.
MITCH: Helping travelers?
MELANIE: No, misdirecting them. I thought you could read my character. On Tuesdays, I take a course in General Semantics at Berkeley, finding new four-letter words. That's not a job, of course, but—
Melanie is joking that her job is to misdirect travelers, but she knows that Mitch is already under the impression that she lies and misrepresents. Maybe she thinks that by acknowledging that, she can appear more genuine to him.
Quote #5
SEBASTIAN SHOLES: Hell, maybe we're all getting a little carried away with this. Admittedly, a few birds did act strange, but that's no reason to—
MELANIE: I keep telling you, this isn't "a few birds"! These are gulls, crows, swifts!
MRS. BUNDY: I have never known birds of different species to flock together. The very concept is unimaginable. Why, if that happened, we wouldn't stand a chance! How could we possibly hope to fight them?
Here's an example of self-deception. Mrs. Bundy, the amateur ornithologist, and Sebastian the fisherman are convincing themselves that the birds aren't really a danger because they don't want them to be a danger. Melanie, who lied about birds at the beginning of the film, is now telling the truth, but nobody wants to believe her. Oh, the irony. It's probably easier to disbelieve an outsider, which Melanie definitely is.