Gillies. — Xotcs on some Changes in the Fauna of Otago. 323 



as the " wild dog." In 1858 my brother and I took np country in the Manio- 

 toto Plains, and decided upon stocking it with sheep as soon as possible. 

 We selected the Shag Valley as the route by which to approach the interior, 

 and it took us several months to form a track before our bullock dray could 

 reach the plains. The furthest back settler at that time was Mr. Charles 

 Hopkinson, whose station was on the spot at Waihemo upon which Colonel 

 Kitchener's house is now built. Mr. Hopkinson, who had visited the plains, 

 was of opinion that the wild dogs would be found to be very troublesome to 

 the sheep, and he advised us to get kangaroo dogs for the purpose of keeping 

 them down. These we were fortunate enough to obtain, and they proved 

 of infinite service to us as hunters. In the spring of 1858 we encountered 

 the first wild dog when camped at the Swinburn on the east side of the 

 Maniototo Plains. He was soon brought down by the kangaroos, one of 

 which had tasted dingo blood in Australia. This particular wild dog was 

 yellow in colour, and so was the second we killed, but the bulk of those 

 ultimately destroyed by us were black and white, showing a marked mixture 

 of the collie. The yellow dogs looked like a distinct breed. They were low 

 set with short prick ears, broad forehead, sharp snout, and bushy tail. 

 Indeed, those acquainted with the dingo professed to see little difference 

 between that animal and the New Zealand yellow wild dog. It may be 

 remarked, however, that most of the other dogs we killed, although variously 

 coloured, possessed nearly all the other characteristics of the yeUow dog. 



The wild dog, of course, at once proved himself to be the natural enemy 

 of the sheep. Fortunately, however, during the two years which marked 

 then- presence in the district, we sustained no very great loss from his 

 ravages. This was due partly to the constant watchfulness of the shepherds 

 and to the circumstance of the flocks being depastured on comparatively 

 level country. The wild dogs were generally to be met with in twos or 

 threes ; they fed chiefly on quail, ground larks, young ducks, and 

 occasionally on pigs. On one occasion, when riding through the Ida-burn 

 VaUey we came across four wild dogs baiting a sow and her litter of young 

 ones in a dry tussocky lagoon. To our annoyance, our own dogs joined in 

 the attack upon the sow, and the wild dogs got away without our getting 

 one of them. "We invariably found, hov^ever, when hunting the wild dog 

 on a scent that our kangaroos would leave it, if crossed by the fresh scent 

 of a wild pig. 



That the yellow dog already referred to is the remnant of a breed which 

 has existed in New Zealand, I think there can be no doubt. In addition to 

 the evidence which has already been brought to bear in proof of this 

 supposition, I may mention that, about tv>-clve years ago, the jaw-bone of 

 a dog was found in an old Maori oven, some few hundred yards from our 



