animals – Page 25 – don't confuse the narrator

a prowl of cats in the night

I was woken in the wee shall hours by cats growling on the verandah. It wasn’t the wailing and wauling of the queen calling the neighbours’ toms – no need, she’s already pregnant again – and it sounded quite unfriendly, so I got up to check there were no forasteros about.

No one ran when I opened the door: the shadows were apparently all members of our own semi-feral tribe. But the growling continued.

Then I identified the sound as the possessive crooning they make when they have caught something and are warning the others away.

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collective cats

A warmth of newborn kittens;
a suckle of queen and her young;
a snooze of kittens in the sunshine;
a tumble of kittens in the violet patch;
a wheedle of felines in the morning
and a squabble at the feeding bowl;
a snuggle of siblings on the window sill;
a quarrel of cats in the moonlight.
(Da capo)

communications technology

In a story on the BBC website, about the streaked tenrecs of Madagascar, I find the following:

Unique hedgehog-like mammals have been filmed using their quills to communicate.

I wonder if they’ll eventually progress to fountain pens, biros, and on to other, more modern, technology.

(Yes, the photo includes all sorts of irrelevant stationery items, but it was the only one I had in my files that featured a quill pen. I think it may be a porcupine quill.)

cats, commas and spiders

The cat in the picture has just been dabbing gently at my fingers, snagging slightly with her claws. This has reminded me of the traditional Spanish joke:
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bluebirds

I’ve always said I don’t really like birds, but for some reason there are lots of them in my poetry.

We’re fortunate to have pine forest, olive groves, the river and other habitats here that provide homes for a variety of species. The most impressive ones that actually come into the garden include hoopoes and jays, the occasional woodpecker, and one of my favourites, the rabilargo – literally ‘long-tail’ – the azure-winged magpie. Sadly, although these flock in huge numbers – I swear I counted 50 last Tuesday – I’ve never managed to get any kind of adequate picture.
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