74 NATURALIST'S CABINET. 



Canine mendicant Depredator on sheep. 



took the rope in his mouth, and rang the bell. 

 His stratagem succeeded. He repeated it the 

 next day with the same good-fortune. At length 

 the cook, finding that twenty-one portions were 

 given out instead of twenty, was determined to 

 discover the trick: in doing which he had no 

 great difficulty; for \yiogperdu, and noticing the 

 paupers as they came in great regularity for their 

 different portions, and that there was no intruder 

 except the dog, he began to suspect the real 

 truth, which he was confirmed in when he saw 

 him wait with great deliberation till the visitors 

 were all gone, and then pnU the bell. The mat- 

 ter was related to the conraBoity, and to reward 

 him for his ingenuity, he was permitted to ring 

 the bell every day for his dinner, when a mess of 

 broken victuals was purposely served out to. 

 him." 



In the winter of 1784, a dog was left by a 

 smuggling vessel near Boomer, on the coast of 

 Northumberland. Finding himself deserted, he 

 began to worry the sheep ; and did so much da- 

 mage, that he soon became the terror of the 

 country for a circuit of above twenty miles. We 

 are informed, that w : hen he caught a sheep, he 

 bit a hole in its right side, and after eating the 

 fat about the kidnies, left it. Several, thus lace- 

 rated, were found alive by the shepherds; and 

 being properly attended to, some of them reco- 

 vered and afterwards had lambs. From his de- 

 licacy in this respect, it may be readily supposed 



