Page:The mammals of Australia Gould vol 3.djvu/213

, Blumenb.

The Dingo.

The opposite life-sized head of the Dingo, or native Australian Dog, is portrayed so faithfully, through the talent of Messrs. Richter and Krefft, that I am certain no one will regret my giving two plates of this animal: whether the head be viewed as a zoological illustration or as a work of art, it must be equally acceptable.

The natural history of the Dingo is so fully entered into in the letter-press accompanying the reduced figures, both from my own observation of the animal in a state of nature and from the writings of previous authors, that to recapitulate them here would be superfluous; I therefore refer my readers to that account.

It will be seen that the animal is subject to much variety of colour; I might therefore have multiplied the plates to almost any extent; but such a measure would have been of very questionable utility: I have therefore confined myself to one representing the normal style of colouring.