One of his friends is still mounting a defence, pointing out that the evidence is purely circumstantial, and that he might have found the blackbird in its deceased condition, but that was the theory offered in the first instance, and it seems a tad unlikely to me. Who is this obliging cat that kills them, then tells George he can take them home? Besides, I let him out yesterday and saw him terrorise some wood pigeons (I think you might call them collared doves in America). He didn’t get any of them, but one of them sat in the tree for some considerable time, looking catatonic. Pigeonatonic?

Frankie, our previous cat, was a birder all his life – I have no problem with nature being red in tooth and claw. There’s just something about George that makes it seem wrong – he’s so gentle with people and other cats, even. He might even think dogs are OK. But I’m pretty sure he’s one for the birds to avoid. In mitigation, I have to point out that both the victims were killed neatly and without any mauling, so at least he’s quick.

He is beginning, sort of, to get used to Georgia. She’s four and half months now, and quite advanced, so she was sitting on the floor this time when she came to visit, and I think he began to realise that she was a person. She’s still a bit too noisy for him, but since he makes even more noise than she does when he wants fed, I don’t think he’s got room to criticise. As soon as he stays in Georgia’s vicinity long enough, I’ll try to get a photo of them together.

In the meantime, I hope you like these. There’s a nice close-up of him, and I like the one of his shadow. And the tableau of him and Greta. The very close close-ups were rather forced on me because the cord he’s playing with is the wrist-strap of the camera! One of them shows the claws that are hardly ever on display. As you can see, in all the others they are firmly sheathed.