SOME SPECIMENS OF AUSTRALIAN FAUNA AND FLORA, 



183 



An animal that stands entirely apart from the marsupials in Australia 

 is the wild dog. The dingo is one of the mysteries. Whence did he corne ? 

 He is allied to the wild dogs of India, but why should this Indian animal 

 be in Australia — his form on the surface and his bones in ancient deposits — 

 while no other representative of the fauna of the Old World is known ? 

 Leaving science to unravel this problem, it may be said of the dingo that 

 he is a good-looking but 

 an ill-behaved animal. 

 He is compared to the 

 sheep-dog, to the wolf, 

 and to the fox, and, in 

 fact, he has a dash of 

 each of these creatures 

 in his appearance. He 

 is about two feet high, 

 is well-proportioned, with 

 erect ears and a bushy 

 tail. He stands firmly 

 on his legs, and shows 

 a good deal of strength 

 in his well-constructed 

 body. His colour varies 

 from a yellowish-tawny 

 to a reddish-brown, grow- 

 ing lighter towards the 

 belly ; and the tip of his 

 brush is generally white. 



He cannot 

 other dogs, but he can howl, and he 

 with a soul-chilling effect. His note 

 likened unto 



The wolf's long howl from Oonalastra's shore. 



Campbell's melodious line conveys the idea ol 

 misery, and discomfort and uneasiness are engen- 

 dered when the slumbers of the sleeper in the 

 bush are disturbed by the blood-curdling cry of 

 these breakers of the nocturnal peace. The blacks 



used to catch the puppies of the wild dog, and then train them to hunt, 

 but they found the European dog sufficient for their purposes, and much 

 more docile and affectionate. As dingoes worry sheep, the first task 

 of a squatter is to get rid of them. When they breed in shelter and 

 a semi-settled district — if they can issue from mallee scrub— a handsome 



