GUANO 201 



area. It is estimated that each bird annually adds 

 the worth of about a dollar and a half as its share. 



Second in importance to the cormorant as a 

 guano producer stands the pelican, termed alca- 

 traz. This bird unfortunately prefers the more 

 humid northern islands of Peru, and its product, 

 when gathered, is therefore of poorer quality. It 

 is excitable by nature and inclined to resent the 

 extraction of guano from its rookery, and for 

 that reason, in former days of wholesale depletion 

 of the beds, it greatly fell off in population. Now, 

 however, under scientific conservation of the guano 

 and close protection, it is regaining the numbers 

 once lost and bids soon to play a more important 

 part in production than ever before. 



The piquero, or gannet, stands third in impor- 

 tance on the list. Although these birds make nu- 

 merically an enormous showing they have an un- 

 fortunate habit of nesting on cliffs, with the result 

 that a considerable portion of their product falls 

 into the sea and is lost. By the construction of 

 shelves, however, much of this decrement is now 

 saved. Notwithstanding this, the annual loss still 

 can be estimated in thousands of tons. The birds 

 leave twice as much excreta around their nests as 

 do the cormorants. 



The fourth guano producer also is a species of 

 gannet, the booby. Like the pelican it prefers 

 the northern islands and hence plays but a small 

 part in the Chincha group. It is a big producer, 



