The dingo (Canis dingo) is called by many names in various parts of Australia; and of these, perhaps, the most common are the following:—
| Yarra | Year-angin or Wer-ren-wil-lum. |
| Gippsland | Ngurran. |
| Western part of Victoria | Purnung (male, pip kuru; female, Nrung-yrreh). |
| King George's Sound | Toort. |
| Raffles Bay | Alee. |
| Karaula | Myeye. |
| Wellington Valley | Mirree. |
| Regent's Lake (Lachlan) | Mérry. |
| Moreton Bay | Mèhee |
| Wollondilly River | Merrigang or Warrigal. (Wuragul or Waragul means wild or savage, in the dialect of the Yarra and Western Port natives.) |
The dingo is not unlike a sheep-dog, but he resembles also the fox, and at times when he is enraged he has a wolf-like aspect. He is about two feet in height, and his length is about two feet six inches. His head is rather like that of a fox; his ears are erect and not long, and he has whiskers on the muzzle. He stands firmly on his legs, and shows a good deal of strength in his well-constructed body—a body not likely to be overloaded with fat even when well fed. His color varies from a yellowish-tawny to a reddish-brown, growing lighter towards the belly; and the tip of his brush is generally white. He cannot bark like other dogs, but howls, and utters a kind of screech if much irritated. He has a habit, too, of turning his head over his shoulder when he regards an enemy, that reminds one of the fox. He affords good sport to a pack of hounds.
The natives speared the wild dog, or took the pups from their lair and ate them. I cannot learn that they set traps for this animal.
It was believed by some for a length of time that the wild dog was of recent introduction to Australia; but this is not so. In sinking a well through volcanic ash, near Tower Hill (Western district of Victoria), the workman came upon dry grass, like hay, at a depth of sixty-three feet. Underneath this ancient grass-clad surface they sank a depth of sixty feet through a blue and yellow clay, and there they found the skull and bones of a dingo. And at Lake Timboon, also in the Western district, the bones of the wild dog are found with those of the Tasmanian Devil (Sarcophilus ursinus), now extinct on the mainland, and only found living in Tasmania; the bones and teeth of the gigantic extinct kangaroos (Macropus Titan and M. Atlas), as well as bones and teeth of the genera Nototherium and Diprotodon. lu fact it is now beyond doubt that the dingo was alive and well when the now extinct marsupial lion (Thylacoleo) roamed through the forests of Australia; when the huge Dromornis fed peacefully
