4112 AUSTRALIAN ZOOLOGY, 
is of a very savage nature, and not likely to change in this particu- 
lar. It laps like other dogs, but neither barks nor growls if vexed 
_and teased ; instead of which it erects the hairs of the whole body 
like bristles, and seems furious. It is very eager after its prey, and 
is fond of rabbits or chickens raw, but will not touch dressed meat. 
From its fierceness and agility it has greatly the advantage of other 
animals much superior in size; for a very fine French fox-dog being 
_put near one that was captured, in a moment the dingo seized him 
-by the loins and would have soon put an end to his existence had 
not help heen at hand. With the utmost ease it is able to leap 
-over the back of an ass, and was very near worrying one to death, 
having fastened on it so that the creature was not able to disengage 
chimself without assistance.” This dingo was sent to England by 
-Governor Phillip, as a present to Mr. Nepean, the Secretary of State 
for the Colonies; she was for some time in the possession of the 
Marchioness of Salisbury, at Hatfield House. Governor Phillip says 
-of a second, in the possession of Mr. Lascelles—‘t We have received 
much the same accounts in respect to its ferocity; whence it is 
-scarcely to be expected that this elegant animal will ever become 
familiar.” 
Description (Professor Mivart).—The dingo varies in his colour- 
ation from red to black. There isa greyish under-fur, but, save in 
‘the black variety, the long hairs are generally yellow or whitish, 
The top of the head and dorsal region generally are of a darker 
reddish-yellow, often intermixed with black. Its head is somewhat 
-elongated and flat; it is carried high, The end of the tail is very 
often white, as are freqnently the feet and sometimes the muzzle, 
though this is also sometimes black. The animal may be of a 
uniformly light reddish or yellowish brown, save that it is paler 
beneath on the outside of the forelegs below the elbow, as well as on 
the inside of the limbs and on the cheeks. Mr. Gould remarks :— 
“** All the specimens procured by me during my stay at the Lower 
Murray were distinguished by a white tip at the extremity of the 
tail; and among the trophies which so generally ornament shep- 
herd’s huts in Australia I do not recollect to have seen a tail without 
the white tip. The black variety is more scarce. The single 
specimen which I secured was quite black, except the inside of the 
fore-legs and paws and the outside of the hind legs and paws, which 
‘were of a tan colour, The head was more pointed then in the yellow 
variety, and had a distinct patch of white about the size of a 
shilling on each cheek.” Professor Tate, of Adelaide, describing 
the dingoes to the north of the Great Australian Bight, observes :— 
“‘ Though reddish-yellow is the common colour of its fur, yet black 
is not rare, and white has been observed.” In western Queensland 
the black variety with white breast generally appears along with 
the red. Sturt, when writing of the mammalia he found in the 
interior, says :—‘‘ Dingoes were of all colours. It appears to me’ 
that if these animals are indigenous, Nature has departed from her 
usual laws as regards wild beasts, in giving them such a variety of 
-colours.” 
