This is a comment I left to JaneA Kelley's Catster article Do You Think Cats Are Smarter Than Dogs? about how my cats have shown above-average feline intelligence. (Or at least, above stereotypical feline intelligence.)
When she was still a farm cat, Parker knew the phrase "take a tick off." I used it when talking about where the inside cat had scratched me, and Parker left my lap. On one of her last mornings on the farm, I saw her climb up a dead tree and pull a baby bluebird out of the nest (bluebirds make their nests in a hollow of the tree). When we had to move out of the shed, I told Parker where I would be feeding her. I shook the dry food as I walked up the hill and she followed me over to the hay pen where I could still feed her. Eventually most of the cats moved over.
Among the other hunting adventures of the farm cats... Butler caught a mouse. He put it down before he ate it, but he held it with his thumb claw so it would not get away. (He also once carried a vole from its hole in front of the shed to behind the shed, but he put it down and it started digging back into the ground.)
Another time, I was playing with the inside cat who had a tick in the first paragraph. He was in the dining room, I was in the kitchen. I threw his toy down the hall. Instead of running to me and running down the hall, he ran through the living room to get to his toy.
The cat I had while growing up showed signs of intelligence. He was a mostly inside cat; we told him to be back in an hour when we let him outside in the morning, and he usually was. Also, we used to give him some tuna whenever we made tuna salad; that was the only time (except Easter) we would boil eggs. One day, before the tuna was even out of the cupboard, we were peeling the eggs, and he came to the kitchen for the tuna. Eggs --> Tuna!
So sometimes, cats are smarter than the av-er-age bear.
UPDATE: Friendly Cat knew his name. I was asking one of the younger kittens "Where's your grey friend?" and Friendly Cat came to where I was and meowed back, as if to say "Here I am."