NATURAL HISTORY 5 



place their eggs or spawn after the melter has done his 

 natural office, and then hide it most cunningly and cover 

 it over with gravel and stones, and then leave it to 

 their Creator's protection, who by a gentle heat which 

 he infuses into that cold element makes it brood and 

 beget life in the spawn, and to become samlets early 

 in the spring next following.' 



In this passage the inaccuracies and mistakes are 

 not very great. The salmon, of course, does not 

 spawn in the month of August, but from October to 

 January, or even later. The hen fish does not 

 deposit her spawn ' after the melter has done his 

 office,' but the two fish go to the spawning beds 

 together, where the redd is constructed, and the male 

 sheds his melt on the eggs and fecundates them after 

 they are deposited by the female. The process of 

 making the redd and spawning usually takes from 

 eight to twelve days ; but is more hurried when the 

 salmon have been prevented from ascending the river 

 until late by want of floods, or other causes. The 

 male fish fight for the possession of the female almost 

 as stags do for their hinds. It is still a debated ques- 

 tion whether the redd or trough is made by the male 

 or female fish, but the better opinion seems to be 

 that it is mainly the work of the latter. It certainly 

 cannot be the case that the peculiar hook or beak 



