April 1, 1921] 



SCIENCE 



297 



As to the results, we have convincing- testi- 

 mony from Dr. Eobert Cushman Murphy, 

 of the Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sci- 

 ences, who has recently visited Peru and given 

 especial attention to the birds of the guano 

 islands. Some of his observations ai'e com- 

 prised in a series of papers of fascinating in- 

 terest entitled " The Sea Coast and Islands of 

 Peru " appearing in current numbers of the 

 Brooklyn Museum Quarterly. I quote from 

 the last number (October, 1920, p. 250). 



The first undertaking of the Oompauia Admin- 

 istradora del Guano under the a;ble directorship of 

 Senor Francisco Ballen, was to make each of the 

 numerous guano islands a bird sanctuary, closed 

 at all seasons of the year to imauthorized visitors. 

 Competent guardians with duties scarcely less ex- 

 acting than those of lighthouse keepers, were 

 posted as permanent residents upon every group. 

 Clandestine guano extraction, the stealing of 

 birds' eggs for food or for the use of the albumin 

 in clearing wine, and other disturbances which 

 had formerly caused havoc in the colonies, ceased 

 at once. The old method of extracting guano 

 without regard to the presence or physiological 

 tondition of the birds has, of course, been abol- 

 ished, the islands, under the ixew rule, being 

 worked according to a system of rotation which 

 leaves ample and congenial breeding grounds al- 

 ways available. Courting or nesting birds are 

 now carefully shielded from disturbance. More- 

 over, after removal of the guano, an island is 

 promptly vacaited and is thereafter given over to 

 the complete possession of the birds for a period 

 of approximately thirty months, at the expiration 

 of which the date for a renewal of digging opera- 

 tions is determined only after careful reconnais- 

 sance. 



The regime of the Compaiiia Administradora del 

 Guano, with its well-balanced regard for both busi- 

 ness and conservation, has resulted in a nearly uni- 

 form increase in the annual increment of guano, as 

 well as a promising outlook for a continually aug- 

 menting supply while the birds are repopulating the 

 breeding grounds to the limits imposed by space 

 and the nutritive resources of the littoral ocean. 

 Since 1910, the administration has issued an an- 

 nual ' ' Memoria ' ' containing statistical data, from 

 which the following table of production has been 

 taken : 



Seasons Guano Production 



1909-1910 25,370 tons 



1910-1911 24,921 



1911-1912 18,636 



1912-1913 24,350 



1913-1914 81,486 



1914-1915 24,446 



1915-1916 43,721 



1916-1917 59,208 



1917-1918 87,898 



1918-1919 80,517 



The slight fluctuations in the column are doubt- 

 less due to the fact that no island is worked two 

 years in su'-cession, wihieh results in a somewhat 

 disproportionately large yield for the seasons in 

 which the product of the most important islands is 

 included. In a letter dated August 24, 1920, Senor 

 BaUen writes that the guano output for the cur- 

 rent year will exceed 82,000 tons, of -wtieh 70,000 

 tons will be required by native agriculturists and 

 12,000 tons will Ibe at the disposal of the Peruvian 

 Corporation for export. It should be understood 

 that the tabulated figures refer to newly deposited 

 guano, for the so-called ' ' fossil ' ' beds have been 

 long since exhausted except upon Lobos de Tierra 

 and Lobos de Afuera. 



Most instructive deductions may be made 

 from the table of gTiano production just 

 quoted. In the first place, it is evident that 

 in the early years of the period covered the 

 annual production of guano was approxi- 

 mately as estimated in 1908, i.e., from 20 to 

 25,000 tons per annum. In the second place, 

 it appears that, beginning about 1913, the 

 annual production of guano (proportioned in 

 large measure to the abimdance of producing 

 birds) has risen to more than 80,000 tons at 

 the present time. The production now is ap- 

 proximately three times as much as it was 

 ten years ago. In 1908 the annual deposits 

 were far below the estimated requirements of 

 national agriculture, disregarding the export 

 requirement. In 1920 the production substan- 

 tially exceeds a greatly increased requirement 

 for national agriculture so that a moderate 

 export may be carried on even without sacri- 

 fice of internal requirements. The govern- 

 ment derives revenue of more than a million 

 dollars a year from the extraction of guano, 

 a reasonable profit accures to the Compania 

 Administradora, and presumably to the export 



