96 BIRD-HUNTING 



honour, though not invariably without wounds, for 

 he was covered with the scars of old battles. 



It takes a good dog to hold his own against 

 these dogs of Albania. They are like wolves in 

 size and fierceness, and are exceedingly dangerous, 

 for they attack a stranger with great determination. 

 Often I have only kept them at a distance, after 

 much difficulty, with the butt end of a gun. 

 Perhaps the best way with all dogs is to throw 

 stones. Even stooping as if to pick up a stone 

 where there are none to pick up, very often suffices 

 to make them turn tail when everything else fails. 

 Sometimes I have had the satisfaction of sending 

 them to the right about, howling, with a well-directed 

 stone ; and once to my great delight I knocked the 

 forelegs of one from under it with a half-brick, and 

 sent it head over heels : this was in passing through 

 a Roumanian village, where the dogs are nearly 

 as big a nuisance as in Albania. But whatever 

 happens you must not shoot one. I have heard of 

 men who have been killed in retaliation for having 

 shot a dog in self-defence. They are greatly valued 

 by their owners, who depend upon them to guard 

 their flocks and herds from wolves in the winter 

 months. The most you can do in case of need is 

 to knife them. It is at all events a sign of close 

 quarters, and consequent necessity, and even then 

 there would be trouble, and a big claim for 



