Page:The Zoologist, 4th series, vol 1 (1897).djvu/223

Rh my mind indicates that the Dingo is not a breed of domestic dog gone wild—a very common belief—but undoubtedly a distinct canine species peculiar to Australia, a fact which is moreover amply proved by the occurrence of fossil Dingoes in the pleistocene formations of Australia.

The Dingo, as a rule, is shy and very cunning, and a European is seldom able to kill the animal in its lair. The stealthy aborigine, on the contrary, very often succeeds in killing it with a spear when asleep. The flesh is not much esteemed, though some old men eat it.

The traveller will, as a rule, only be able to shoot the dog with a rifle. Occasionally it will, at a respectful distance, follow a man on horseback, apparently from curiosity.

In the month of August some recently-caught pups, hardly a month old, were brought to me by the natives. They were very playful, and soon got used to my company, but were great thieves, and would on the least opportunity break their confinement, and escape to the aborigines or to the bush.

During my sojourn in Arnhem Land I first met with this species on an expedition to "Hermit Hill," south of the Daly river. The hollow trunks of the dwarf Eucalypti, which chiefly form the open scrubs of these desert-like sandy plains, were the chief resorts of this animal, whose habits are strictly nocturnal.

Judging from my list of specimens from this locality, the females outnumber the males by far, amongst eleven specimens only two being males. On several other localities the species was met with—in fact it is common nearly everywhere in Arnhem Land; but my series of specimens from these places are too small to admit of any conclusive comparison as to the proportionate numbers of the sexes. Nowhere, at all events, the number of males exceeded that of females, and in the total comparison the scale turns strongly to the female side. From this it may be inferred that the species is polygamous, a theory which I consider strengthened by the fact that the males were always found separately.

The number of young was invariably found to be two. They are suckled by the mother until they reach a considerable size,