190 THE NEW HOLLAND DINGO. 



mestic dogs they seize without hesitation : yet these 

 facts, excepting the first, relate to individuals of 

 the reclaimed race, not larger than our shepherd's 

 dog, or less than two feet high at the shoulder. 

 They have the muzzle somewhat fuller, the head 

 large ; under fur grey, covered by longer and abun^. 

 dant hair fulvous or white; the forehead, neck, 

 back, and superior side of the tail is dark fulvous ; 

 the sides, under part of the throat, and brush paler ; 

 all beneath, the inside of the thighs, the legs, and 

 nose whitish. We have seen two with the tip of 

 the tail white, but the wild race is said to be desti- 

 tute of that colour, and many of them are dark 

 with shaggy hair;* they carry the tail horizon- 

 tally, not- curled, bent down when watching, and it 

 is only partially furnished with long hair. They 

 run, unlike dogs, with the head high, the ears 

 erect and turned forward. The specimen at Paris 

 could not swim. The parent race is vnld all over 

 Australia, but an inferior breed is partially tamed 

 by the natives, who make some use of it in hunting 

 kangaroos and emus. The young obtained from a 

 pair in the Zoological Gardens were all more or less 

 spotted with white. 



We understand that there is a strongly marked 

 variety or race of these dogs in Yan Diemen's Land. 



* A skin from the Swan River, now before us, measures 41 

 inches to the tail, the tail 12 inches. The fur in colour resem- 

 bles the wolf of Asia Minor, but the eyes are very near tlie 

 nose, only 3^ inches distant ; the head is small for the size oi 

 the animal. One recently brought to Plymouth was as large a« 

 a tall luicher and resembled tliat race ia make. 



