PERU'S WEALTH-PRODUCING BIRDS 



559 



plovers, and sandpipers, frequent the 

 margins of the islands, especially where 

 sandy beaches are available. 



Scavenger buzzards, or "gallinazos," 

 profiting by the experience of other birds, 

 upon whose eggs and young they love to 

 prey, conceal their own nests in caverns 

 or beneath overhanging rocks. 



Large condors are occasionally seen 

 posing silently on some high hillside, and 

 a lonely species of perching bird, the 

 little "chirote," also has found its way 

 from Andean slopes to the barren sea 

 islands, where it flies back and forth 

 from cliff to beach or runs along the 

 water's edge in search of tiny prey. 



Sailing from island to island or back 

 and forth from mainland to island, one 

 may meet typical birds cf the high seas : 

 dull-colored shearwaters, little petrels 

 that hover over the waves or seem to 

 dance upon the surface of the sea, and, 

 more conspicuous than these, the beauti- 

 ful Peruvian albatross. The last, though 

 smaller than the great southern alba- 

 tross, — its body, indeed, scarcely larger 

 than that of a gull — has yet a wing ex- 

 panse of eight feet. 



ALL THE GUANO ISLANDS LIE NEAR THE 

 MAINLAND 



To mention the places where guano 

 deposits have been found would be al- 

 most to list the islands, islets, and points 

 of shore from near Paita, at 5 degrees 

 south, to the southernmost limit of pres- 

 ent Peruvian territory, at 18 degrees 

 south — a distance corresponding to that 

 between New York and Cuba, or about 

 1,300 miles. 



The commercial guano situations com- 

 prise some hundreds of points, but chief 

 among these, for their historical impor- 

 tance, are the Chincha and Ballestas 

 Islands, the islands of Guahape and 

 Macabi, and the larger Lobos Islands of 

 the two groups, de Afuera and de Tierra. 

 Pabellon de Pica, now beyond the terri- 

 tory of Peru, was also an important 

 point at an earlier time. Among places 

 of second importance are the Islas Santa, 

 Fronton, Palominos, Asia, Santa Rosa, 

 Vieja, and Cerro Azul. 



From year to year the scene of the in- 

 dustry may shift from island to island, 

 as the deposits accumulate or become 

 exhausted, but the Chincha and Ballestas 



and the Lobos Islands are rarely aban- 

 doned for a complete twelve months. 



None of the islands are very large or 

 far removed from the coast. The nearest 

 islet is so close to the main shore as to be 

 reached conveniently by an aerial trolley, 

 while most of the islands are not more 

 than ten or twelve miles removed. The 

 only group at all remote is the Lobos de 

 Afuera, which is about t>3 nautical miles 

 from the nearest point of mainland. 

 The largest island is that of Lobos de 

 Tierra, with its length of nearly six 

 miles and a width varying from one-sixth 

 of a mile to two miles. 



The Lobos de Afuera Islands, com- 

 bined, are slightly smaller, while each of 

 the two larger Chincha Islands Avill not 

 average a half mile in diameter. The 

 south and smallest island of the latter 

 group, and recently the most important, 

 has an extent of less than 30 acres, and 

 on the occasion of the writer's visits the 

 greater part of its surface was carpeted 

 with the nests of guanays. 



The islands of Ballestas, a sister group 

 of the Chinchas, and, like it, composed 

 of three principal units, are each approxi- 

 mately equal to the smallest of the Chin- 

 chas. They are bolder and higher and 

 must be gained by climbing from the 

 water, being without beaches except at 

 the bases of unscalable cliffs. These 

 islands of Ballestas are from one to three 

 hundred feet in height. 



PRACTICALLY NO VEGETATION ON MOST OE 

 THE ISLANDS 



All of the islands are more or less bold, 

 rocky, and barren. Generally, vegetation 

 is entirely absent, except where the higher 

 points reach such an altitude (about 1,200 

 feet) as to derive moisture from the 

 clouds. The higher peaks of desert 

 islands may therefore support luxuriant, 

 but entirely isolated, gardens of vegeta- 

 tion. These are found only upon such 

 lofty islands as San Gallan, La Isla Vieja, 

 or San Lorenzo. 



A small amount of vegetation was seen 

 on the sandy shores of Lobos de Tierra, 

 but this was exceptional. Even if the 

 want of atmospheric or soil moisture did 

 not exclude the possibility of plant 

 growth, the rocky nature of the ground 

 and the general presence of too strongly 

 concentrated fertilizer would render con- 



