188 MR. T. E. WHITEHEAD ON THE WILD DINGO. 



of Reptiles taken in the Gardens, directing special attention 

 to those showing feeding habits of the Black Ciibo {Oxyrhopus 

 cl(jelia), which attacks and devours poisonous snakes. 



The Wild Dingo (Canis familiaris, var.). 



The Secretary read the following letter from 'Mr. Thomas E. 

 Whitehead : — 



" During a recent visit to England, I spent a delightful day at 

 the Zoological Gardens, but was rather surprised at the animals 

 exhibited as Dingos. Now, Sir, I spent a great many years as a 

 stockman and drover in the back country of South Australia, 

 New South Wales, Queensland, and Northern Territory, besides 

 travelling and prospecting over a large part of Western Australia 

 during the past 23 years, but I have never met with a Dingo 

 anything like those I saw at the London Zoo. 



" I have enquired from my friends if they could tell me what 

 part of Australia they could have come from, and I am told that 

 many years ago a Mastiff got away with the Dingos about Mount 

 Kosciusko and crossed the breed in that district. So probably 

 that is where your Dingos came from. They are too tall, too 

 long, too thick muzzled, and too short-haired to be true Dingos. 

 The true Dingo resembles the fox a great deal, but is larger, his 

 nose is pointed, forehead fairly broad, has longish hair, and a tail 

 almost as bushy as the fox. There are two colours, according to 

 the colour of the country he inhabits. Those in the Tableland 

 and Mountainous districts are usually of a sand}^ brown colour, 

 while those in the yellow sand-hill country are usually sandy 

 yellow, and have longer hair than those on the Tablelands. I 

 once saw a pack of about a dozen of the darker kind in the fore- 

 noon on the south side of Lake Yandandaninna, and towards 

 evening I saw a pack of the lighter colour on the noith side of 

 the lake ; they had come for a dr-ink from the sandhills to the 

 northward. 



i' Dingos never bark, neither do they learn to bark when 

 tamed. The Bushman can always distinguish between the howl 

 of a Dingo and that of a Domestic Dog. Like the fox, he is 

 very partial to poultry, and is a terror to poultry-owners in the 

 new townships. He will kill sheep by the dozen just for the 

 fun of doing so. If hungry, he will rip a hole in the flank and 

 eat his fill of the liver and leave the rest. I once heard sheep 

 rushing on a bright moonlight night. On going to investigate I 

 saw our Overseer's prize Kelpie rounding up about 300 sheep, 

 while in the centre was a Dingo slut enjoying herself by killing 

 sheep wholesale. I fired my rifie at the Kelpie but missed, then 

 fired at the slut, and next morning tracked her up by blood 

 marks and found her nearly dead, so quickly despatched her. 



