554 



THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



bizarre; as the: adult pelican appears, it is a 



graceful and elegant btrd compared 



with the grotesque nestling 



At first naked and purple-skinned, then covered with 

 white down, the nestling's awkwardness seems to in- 

 crease with age. It attains a large size before develop- 

 ing its second plumage. Even when only slightly feath- 

 ered, it may exceed its parents in stature and weight. 



very few pelican nesting grounds could 

 be found during the writer's visit. 



The Chincha and Ballestas Islands were 

 largely given over to the cormorants, San 

 Gallan to the little petrel, and the Santa 

 Rosas to small terns. Upon the Lobos 

 Islands, however, the pelican was the bird 

 of paramount importance. In March it 

 was estimated that one rookery comprised 

 upward of forty thousand pelicans nest- 

 ing or rearing young and fully as many 

 more of nestlings and flying birds in im- 

 mature plumage. The eastward island 



of Lobos de Afuera, with its out- 

 lying islet to the north, contained 

 close to, if not exceeding, one 

 hundred thousand pelicans. 



Such an array of pelicans 

 makes a more showy effect than 

 a vastly greater number of 

 smaller birds. 



Unfortunately, this great and 

 valuable rookery, unmolested for 

 several years, was not permitted 

 to remain further undisturbed. 

 Following the writer's visit the 

 nesting grounds were invaded by 

 extractors and were stripped of 

 guano and nests. When the 

 islands were revisited in Decem- 

 ber scarcely any birds were near 

 the old rookery and only a cou- 

 ple of thousand nests were any- 

 where upon this island. 



Upon the north point of the 

 westward island the largest rook- 

 eries were found, including be- 

 tween twenty and forty thousand 

 birds. Still other nesting grounds 

 had become established upon the 

 Lobos de Tierra Islands, thirty 

 miles farther north, at a point 

 on the island well removed from 

 the scene of guano extraction. 



It is one of the tragedies of 

 the guano industry that this im- 

 portant bird has received so little 

 proper consideration that its 

 numbers are now greatly re- 

 duced. 



There exists a peculiar belief 

 among many persons that the 

 pelican is unaffected by disturb- 

 ance, since the adults will often 

 stand by their eggs or nestlings 

 when molested. Every fact 

 known regarding the movements, 

 migration, and gradual extermination of 

 the pelican confirms the belief that the 

 species suffers more detriment from the 

 molestation of its homes than perhaps 

 any other bird found on the coast. The 

 time may arrive when the pelican will 

 have become so depleted as to be of com- 

 paratively slight significance. 



The subordinate economic importance 

 of the pelican relative to the guanay is 

 told, not only by comparison of the num- 

 bers of birds of tbe two species, but also 

 by analysis of the guanos. To some ex- 



