AUSTRALIAN Docs. 



517 



T/te Dingo. 



As in the case of the Kangaroo Dog, so with the Dingo, we have fallen back upon notes 

 supplied us by gentlemen who have studied the variety. We will commence by giving a descrip- 

 tion of the Dingo from the pen of Mr. Hugh E. C. Beaver an Irish Water Spaniel breeder, whose 

 late dog, Captain, is the subject of our coloured plate who gives us the Dingo from an 

 Australian point of view. 



" The Dingo, or as he is most usually called by colonists, ' the native dog,' is common to 

 all parts of Australia alike, showing no difference in colour, formation, or habits, but varying 



-eiff 



DINGO "LUPUS," THE PROPERTY OF MR. VT. K. TAUNTON. 



very much in size. In colour he is a red-brown on back and sides, getting darker towards the 

 ridge of the back, in some cases showing almost a distinct dark line all down the back 

 and tail. Head rather lofty, very wide between the ears, which are always pricked ; nose 

 rather pointed, very powerful jaws, and far larger teeth than a dog of similar size would be 

 expected to have. His tail is almost exactly like a fox's brush, having the same white tip, and 

 is carried in the same way never carried over his back in a curl, but floating loosely 

 behind as he runs. I have seen in this country Dingoes with a curly tail, but it is 

 not right, and shows at once that they have a cross of Collie in them. This, of course, 

 they are liable to have, considering that no one is likely to bring a Dingo from the 

 new country, far back in the interior, but would get one from somewhere near old settled 

 districts, where you continually see crossbreeds with both Sheep-dogs and Kangaroo Hounds, 

 and these are always considered the worst enemies to the sheep. The native dog is 

 a pest to sheep-farmers, as he not only kills the sheep, but at the same time bites a great 



