JxiLT 10, 1908] 



SCIENCE 



59 



each year making new deposits, especially on 

 their nesting-grounds, and this new fresh 

 guano usually has a very high per cent, of 

 nitrogen and a comparatively low per cent, of 

 sand. Now, as the remaining deposits of old 

 guano are rapidly being exhausted, the annual 

 gross output of guano is bound to decrease 

 very considerably, and the industry will be 

 dependent entirely upon the yearly deposit of 

 the birds. 



Probably the general impression held in 

 other countries regarding the accumulations 

 of guano in Peru has been that they were 

 comparable to coal formations, in that they 

 represented the very gradual accumulations of 

 untold years, and were, practically speaking, 

 a finished formation. By the very nature of 

 such deposits they would surely be exhausted 

 sooner or later. Unfortunately this partly 

 erroneous impression seems to have been the 

 controlling one both in Peru and outside. 

 For, while many of the intelligent men of 

 intimate acquaintance with the islands have 

 recognized the producing value of the modem 

 birds, the whole policy of extractors and the 

 government has been, until rather recently, 

 that of making the most of the old deposits, 

 with general disregard of the productive birds. 



When one sees one thousand tons of new 

 guano of the highest grade taken from an 

 area of twelve thousand square meters, where 

 the birds have been nesting for much less than 

 one year, when one observes on a neighboring 

 island an area, five times greater, completely 

 covered with birds at their nests, when one, 

 later, finds this latter flock increased by nearly 

 fifty per cent., as the birds have been driven 

 from other islands — ^with such convincing ap- 

 peals to the eye and the mind, one will not 

 fail to recognize the present producing value 

 of the birds. 



For this new guano of annual production, 

 there is, on the one hand, the insatiable de- 

 mand of the export trade, and, on the other, 

 a steadily growing requirement for the needs 

 of national agriculture. Since it is generally 

 estimated that the agriculture of Peru re- 

 quires about forty thousand tons per year, and 

 since this quantity is surely more than the 



present yearly production, it follows that the 

 impression regarding the exhaustibility of the 

 guano deposits may, doubtless will, prove true, 

 as far as the North American or European 

 consumer is concerned. More than this, it is 

 inevitable that, with the continuance of the 

 present conditions, national agriculture will 

 soon be forced against an actual and dis- 

 astrous shortage of this fertilizer. The hope 

 of the future lies, then, in the effort to make 

 the annual deposits of guano greater in future 

 years than it now is. National agriculture 

 may have an additional hope, also, that 

 arrangements may be made with the exporting 

 company whereby a greater proportion, if not 

 all, of the fresh guano of high grade may be 

 available for domestic use. 



I. THE AIM IN VIEW 



To realize the hope that the annual deposit 

 will be greater in future years, it is necessary 

 to cease treating the birds as wild animals 

 whose homes men may invade almost like 

 beasts of prey to seize the useful product, 

 regardless of the producing birds. Under a 

 wiser policy the birds will be looked upon as 

 domestic animals, engaged in a useful labor, 

 and from which a greater benefit will be 

 derived the more an intelligent consideration 

 is shown for their welfare. By the protective 

 measures there are three ends to gain. 



1. The present number of birds may be per- 

 mitted to spend a greater proportion of their 

 time upon their chosen nesting-grounds so 

 that a greater proportion of the guano may be 

 available. The most useful birds, the 

 "guanay" (Phalacrocorax hougainvillei Less, 

 a cormorant) and the " alcatras " (Pelecanus 

 MoUnae Gr., a pelican) spend a great part of 

 their time during the entire year upon the 

 nesting-field or neighboring grounds unless 

 frightened away- by the presence of men. In 

 this case they are likely to spend much more 

 time upon the water, or upon the small islets 

 and cliffs, where the deposits are less available, 

 if not largely lost. 



2. The present tendency to decrease in 

 nnmberg may be checked. There is a wealth 

 of reliable testimony from the older men of 



