"Bob Weinberger" wrote in message
news:MYBii.8255$DM4.5582@trndny06...

...However, that reasoning doesn't excuse another error in the piece -
attributing the scooping out of the Redd to the male, that activity is
strictly the province of the female.

While rechecking "Science Sketches" this morning for anything that might
bear on the homing instinct question, I came across this:

"The spawning season is probably about the same for all the species [of
Pacific salmon. ws]. It varies for each of the different rivers, and for
different parts of the same river. It doubtless extends from July to
December. The manner of spawning is probably similar for all the species,
but we have no data for any except the quinnat. In this species the fishes
pair off, the male, with tail and snout, excavates a broad, shallow 'nest'
in the gravelly bed of the stream, in rapid water, at a depth of one to four
feet, the female deposits her eggs in it, and after the exclusion of the
milt, they cover them with stones and gravel."*

Clearly, the reference in "The Story of a Salmon" was not simply a misprint
or other momentary lapse. Looks like there was much left to learn about the
salmonids back around 1911.

Wolfgang
*from "The Salmon Family" in "Science Sketches" pp. 54-55.*