QUEER HOLIDAY HOBBIES

Otago Daily Times, Issue 18676, 4 October 1922, Page 5

QUEER HOLIDAY HOBBIES

There are many people who scorn the conventional holiday at the seaside or them- , land spa and seek the most secluded cornets of the kingdom (writes a contributor te,,^ Loudon paper). _,,_ r I have met a man who spends his ■ holiday in a tent on one of the wildest “oora in Scotland and takes three or four hives,- ; of bees with him to gather heather honey.,. His only companions are grouse, curlews* *. and lapwings. , . . , . Another man spends a fortnight every,.. year in the New Forest searching for a rare kind of beetle.' In three visits ha has ■ found one specimen. . ' . - There are trout fishing enthusiasts who. -c-tura year after year to the same stretch of river haunted by a big end very cun»m*u-, fish. The whereabouts and feeding habits cf these elusive trout are well known among these persevering anglers. They will tell-, vou that “Julia is always a- yard abova the first pile of the footbridge at half-past: , ereht in the evening,” and that the monster., 1 fish named “Peter” feeds at, the secondbend of the first meadow. Julia has never been known to rise to ah artificial fly, but the .patient and sanguine _ fisherman spends a considerable part of his. holiday in a trial of his skill against her shrewdness. , With Peter the chances of ultimate success.’ arc brighter, for ho has on two occasions-, deigned to look at a floating alder fly,-, and refused it promptly. But the persistent; fisher remains undaunted, and finds peren-;4, nial pleasure in discussing the ways of hi*, in old friends Peter -and Julia and plans for their outwitting. • If these highly educated trout are caught*', by a village lad, fishing with a worm on.coarse tackle, the grief and vexation of - the visiting angler are almost too deep for „ tears. Other Julias and Peters arc sought. ; for fishermen of this type disdain all but.' the wariest of large trout. Searching for treasure from tho‘ deep- id the favourite recreation of a midd-ledgcd - . city man. of my acquaintance. He roams k the seashore daily and keeps a written cati- 'l, logu-o of all the flotsam and jetsam that hO-: ; finds. Among his “treasures” are an oar,; two telegraph poles, a bale of cotton gar- | 1 meats, and a quantity of beeswax. The relic-hunters are fairly numerous; They travel long distances to secure xnementoes of people and places. The literary relio • quosters will show you a fern from the wall:"; of Shelley’s house near Rhayader and a bit of mortar from the home of Charles Kingsley. ;> Many Americans accumulate a number of ■; curious “relics” during a tour of England; ": Old battlefields attract many holiday- -f makers in this country, and they visit Edge- * lull, Marston Moot;, t and other places with r ’ large-scale maps. One the strangestholiday fa-da is recorded by Herbert Spencer, of an aged and extremely benevolent man, whose height of enjoyment was inspecting instruments of torture in museums at home and abroad.