THROUGH WILD EUROPE 97 



compensation, if nothing worse. I have often felt to 

 make sure that the handle of the big hunting-knife 

 I always carried with my revolver was within reach 

 and ready for use. On one occasion, while our 

 boat was towing on the Danube, a big brute of a 

 dog attacked the men on the bank with the tow- 

 rope so savagely that I fired one barrel of my gun, 

 striking the ground just in front of its nose. Even 

 then it only retired very reluctantly and growling 

 horribly. 



Besides the birds mentioned as belonging more 

 exclusively to the lagoon, during April we saw 

 many Blue Tits, Great Tits, Blackbirds, Missel 

 Thrushes, Thrushes, Magpies, Rooks, Hooded 

 Crows, Ravens, and Jackdaws. These last in- 

 habited in great numbers the old Castle, and also 

 the castle ruins at Dulcigno. Many of these Jack- 

 daws appearing to be very light about the neck, I 

 shot a series, and found them with more or less 

 distinct whitish edges to the grey patch on the 

 neck. As there is a supposed sub-species in Mace- 

 donia (Corvus monedula var. collaris) I preserved 

 the skins of nearly a dozen in case they approached 

 this form. I should say that it is merely a varia- 

 tion, by no means constant : some having the white 

 collar much more distinct than others. A photograph 

 of two perched on the roof of a neighbouring house 



shows the white rings fairly well. 

 7 



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