The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-01-22
GRAPE-EATING DOGS.
A Habit INDUCED in By Some of the
European CANNES.
A Wanderer, in Bonforts Wine and Spirit
Circnlnr-


A Wanderer in Bonforts Wine and Spirit
Circular.
We all know the fable of the fox that de
clared the grapes were green because he
could not reach them. Until recently had
always imagined that Mr.. Aesop had avail
ed himself of the crafty fox TO adorn a
moral. The fox, l can assure my readers,
is remarkably fond of grapes; I won't go
so far as 10 say that he prefers them to
fat pulet, but when he can't get any
thing else, or as a dessert, he commits
more ravages in one night than a dozen
of our London waits would If admitted into
a Douro vineyard
Many naturalists have asserted that the
dog and the fox viii not breed together
This is a great mistake. Equally will the
dog and the wolf. And the dog will eat
grapes and cause any amount of damage
When l was staying in Vezuvio Quinta
! was out one morning very early, and 1
saw the house dog running along with a
fox and playing havoc with the finest
punches. The creature was quite white,
but Il had a well-developed brush and the
face of a fox They seemed 20 be having
good time of 1t, but the peculiar part
of it Is that these grape-eaung dogs, so
nearly allied TO the fox, will not encroach
on the domains of Mr. Cock-a- doodle do.
and won't allow others to do So He is a
cur of very low degree; a snappy, yelpng
brute, moi to be trusted so far as your
fingers are concerned.
The dog of the Sierra da Estrella Is not
grape eater; he will attack man as wolf
would; he stands about three feet in hight.
Ia nth
there are two specimens of this fierce
breed. Tigre lost his tail some time ago;
he is white, but his ears are yellow At
daybreak he goes out hunting on his own
account, for rabbits are plentiful and there
are a few hares He provides for himself
and his lady love.
In the whole of the Douro there are very
few dogs once they get the mania for eat
ing grapes there is no curing them of It.
and the night guards are instructed to
shoot them.
The foxes live on the most friendly
terms with these ours so that the latter
are not of much good in protecting the
approaches to the house. IT Is impossible
to hunt i'm the Douro because OF the stone
walled terraces and the precpitous hills
but the shooting Is very good, because you
have to work for your birds. / am glad
to say that the Portuguese have at last
gone In for preserving their rivers, even
to preventing dynamite cartridges employ
ed IN the destruction Of fish
once more referring to the grape-eating
dogs, ] have just come across an ably
written article in one of our French con-
temporares. The writer asserts that in
former days such a dog was unknown, but
that Tor some reason the ours Of high and
low degree have developed a fancy for de-
stroying the punches and damaging the
vines. Speaking, however, with a Span
ish friend yesterday, he Informed me that
fifty years ago he was acquainted with
this peculiarly of our canine companion.
I can only explain 1t by the absence Of
grass, which is the dogs medicine, for
in other districts he leaves the fruit alone.
or course this Is a most important ques-
ton, as II not only affects the quantity
of the grapes grown, but the vines as well
In former days the wolves used to fire.
quent the Quintas, also the wild boars.
and at the Quinta do Roriz there is stlll
standing a stone building, somewhat af-
ter the fashion Of vast oven. where Mr.
Alexander, the first proprietor, used 90 90
to shoot these wild animals. But now, ex-
cepting in the Serras, the wolf and the
boar are no longer found.