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""" Does the Dingo Cross ? j
J_)EAR "Non-com,"-This subject hai
caused more controversy than ans
other on the Highway and By-way. &
far the majority of your writers are»quiti
certain that they do cross with the do-
mestic dog and are emphatic about it
However, mere assertion is no proof.-.
, Tales haye been told (and good ones
too) of sheep dogs, kangaroo dogs and
every other kind of dog that has gone
bush and returned home later ,to present
its owner with a litter of crossbreds
Crossbreds? Yes,- but what wlthî
Dingos, perhaps, but where's the proofs
I do not claim to have killed thousands
or even hundreds; but I have killed some,
and I do claim to be able to identify a
dingo (that is, if he is deeTd). I want
to examine his teeth and hair. The teeth
differ from those of the domestic dog
in that the dingo possesses a double set
of canines similar to the wolf; also the
hide is covered with a thick coat of fur
from a quarter to a half-inch in length.
Show me one of these crossbreds carry-
ing these characteristics and I'll line up
with those crying "Yea."
I have seen mongrels with a dash of
Collie in them that would certainly pass
for dingos if they were caught in an
area known to be inhabited by wild dogs.
In 1913, when the Kukerin-Lake Grace
area was being opened up, I shot a kan-
garoo just after sundown, but failed to
locate it. However,.as it was not far
from camp, I decided to return for it in
the morning. I arrived at the spot just
as the sun was rising. A slight breeze
was coming towards me; so also were
three half-grown pups-in fact, we al-
most collided. I found the kangaroo,
well broached, and gave it a liberal
dressing of strychnine, to be rewarded
the following morning with two of the
pups. Dingoes? Well the road board paid
me £1 for the scalps. They were a brown-
ish yellow in colour, darker muzzles, and
on the back line and tail, with the usual
white tip, but they possessed neither the
teeth r v. the fur of the dingo.
Six mc.iths later I passed within a
hundred yards of the Spot and blundered
on top of the bitch, lying partly under a
log. In appearance she was the exact
replica of the pups. She was too far
gone to scalp. In any case I really
couldn't have taken the money, as she
had a well-perished leather strap around
her neck with a brass buckle. "~
Well, that settled the breeding of the
bitch in my mind, but what of the pups?
I consider that the dominant character-
istics of the dingo would most certainly
be passed on to its progeny. Neverthe-
less I'm not prepared to say they do not
cross.
EMMA GEE, Duranillan.
A Litter of Six.
FfcEAR "Non-Com."-As an old and in
terested reader of "The Western
Mail," I have been reading the various
writers' experiences about dingos and
Wild cats at play at Kulin. Dinzo bitch in trap. Litter of six dingo pups. Help
Wild cats at play at Kulin.
tame dogs, etc. Years ago this district
was alive with both, and my personal ex-
perience is that the real dingo has a
howl all its own, and a tame dog gone
wild howls, then yaps. They also kill
differently; a dingo only takes the kid-
neys and fat, and a tame dog gone wild
eats all, and is not particular how it kills.
Wild cats at play at Kulin. Dinzo bitch in trap. Litter of six dingo pups. Help
Dinzo bitch in trap.
As to colour, the enclosed two snaps
will show the bitch and her six puppies.
We trapped her and got the litter in a
cave in a washaway on my property. The
puppies were a mixed lot, three tawny in
colour and three almost black with tawny
tips. The bitch was a pretty yellow,
with a beautiful bushy tail.
The other snap is of two wild cats
Wild cats at play at Kulin. Dinzo bitch in trap. Litter of six dingo pups. Help
Litter of six dingo pups.
caught at play. We did not interfere
with them. They lived In the white gum
hollow logs and fed on the mice at our
feedhouse. They were pretty and lived
at the same place for years, but we
couldn't keep a cat at the house. They
were huge-as big as average kelpies and
wild as the wind.
WET BLOWER, Kulin.
The Blue Heeler.
J)EAR "Non-Com."-Don't some of the
"Dingoes don't cross" mob know of
the Queensland blue heeler and the Aus-
tralian kelpie? According to Robert
Kaleski, with whom few will argue on
dogs, the heeler is a cross between a!
smooth-coated collie (the male) and a
dingo, plus a little Dalmatian blood to
produce the speckled marking and a
love of horses. j
The kelpie is a border collie-dingo cross,
and I have always heard that a barb is
the comeback (i.e., kelpie-border collie).
SALTBUSH BILL, Ora Banda.
"Economic," Dudinin.-You may have
noticed "New Era's" correction in "To
Correspondents" on April 13. The brand
is TJ5. conjoined, but the linotype can-
not reproduce it exactly. Many thanks
for letter.
"Feathered Frog," South Belmont.
Many thanks. It's well written, but rather
long for space available at present.
$