60 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXVIII. No. 706 



long experience in the industry, that the use- 

 ful birds, especially the alcatras, were for- 

 merly vastly more abundant than now. Con- 

 sidering the well-known facts regarding the 

 robbery of eggs on a large scale in past years, 

 the destruction of young and old birds, and 

 the disturbance of the birds in their nesting- 

 grounds by the extraction of guano, it is in- 

 conceivable indeed that the birds have not 

 decreased greatly in numbers. If they have 

 endured the treatment they have received 

 without decrease in numbers, then protection 

 can hardly be worth while. On the other 

 hand, if it is true, as represented by every 

 one who should know, that there has been a 

 great diminution in number of birds, then — 



3. We may hope that the protection of the 

 hirds will result in a great increase in their 

 numbers. Before the working for guano on 

 a large scale began and before the nesting- 

 grounds began to be plundered for eggs and 

 fowls, the birds must have existed in a con- 

 dition of abundance dependent upon their 

 food supply, their enemies and their natural 

 prolificness. New factors have entered in 

 recent years which have caused the birds to 

 decrease materially below this normal condi- 

 tion of abundance. If these unfavorable fac- 

 tors are removed by well-considered and well- 

 executed protective measures, why may we 

 not see an increase in number toward the 

 former normal abundance? 



I think it conservative to say that the proper 

 protection of the birds means the saving to 

 Peru of himdreds of thousands of dollars' 

 worth of guano each year. The wise action 

 of the government in keeping closed during 

 last season the south island of the Chinchas 

 probably saved one thousand tons or more of 

 guano of high grade during this year. Be- 

 sides, it has been a benefit to the birds, which, 

 if properly followed up, wiU yield results in all 

 successive years. The keeping closed of the 

 north island of the Chinchas would not have 

 saved much guano during that season, but, as 

 the beginning of a plan for the fostering of 

 the alcatras, it might have yielded results in 

 future years. For it seems sure that the 

 alcatras was once an abundant and important 

 bird in this region. Now it has practically 



abandoned the region, but as I showed in 

 a report published in the Boletin del Minis- 

 terio de Fomento of June, 1907, the few 

 alcatrases which remain had chosen this one 

 island, of all in the Chincha and Ballestas 

 groups, for their nesting-ground. The islands 

 of Lobos de Afuera were abandoned for two 

 years, and the alcatrases settled themselves 

 chiefly in the northern part of the eastward 

 island, and on an islet near by. Here, now, 

 was an ideal arrangement: while the extrac- 

 tion of guano on a large scale was in opera- 

 tion in the Lobos de Tierra Islands, these 

 timid birds were in undisturbed possession 

 of the Lobos de Afuera. Unfortunately, this 

 condition was not permitted to continue, for 

 last season the extraction of guano was re- 

 sumed on these islands, and the birds were 

 entirely routed. They have now taken new 

 positions, more or less scattered, but with an 

 especial aggregation on the northern part of 

 the westward island. Now guano is again to 

 be extracted from these islands and the peli- 

 cans will be routed again from their newly 

 established homes. Is it not time to awaken 

 to the fact that the alcatras is gradually dis- 

 appearing ? 



The three instances cited above are adduced 

 to illustrate this point; we need not merely 

 look out for the next two years, but may well 

 plan for protective measures that are in- 

 tended to work progressively to the advantage 

 of the industry for the nest twenty years or 

 more. We want to see many more birds in 

 1915 than are present in 1908, and more birds 

 in 1920 than in 1915; and this will not be 

 accomplished by routing the birds from their 

 nesting-groimds as soon as they are fairly 

 established. 



n. ONE CONTRACTOR TO AN ISLAND 



As illustrating the effect of admitting more 

 than one concessionist to an island, let us 

 take the Ballestas Islands, as worked in 1907, 

 for example. As directed by the government, 

 I visited these islands in May and June, and 

 again at the end of July. In the last part of 

 May the work of extraction had been in 

 operation but a few weeks and practically 

 no guano had been shipped, yet every inch of 



