El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1914-12-05

I amounts to only a few thousand tons
a year. but through the plans now
making by the Peruvian government
the islands may be renovated, and a
continual supply received from them
for all time to come. These plans are
based upon the work Of DR.. H. o.
Forbes, a celebrated ornithOlOgist, VINO
has been sent by the president OF
Peru to report upon the islands and
advise the government as to their ~
ture. DR.. Forbes has visited the whole
coast in a motor boat, and has 1nVeS-
tigated all the islands and roostinS
rocks, studying the birds and their
possibilities.
Millions Of PeIicans.
During my trip off the guano Islands
! we had millions OF pelicans flying over
our steamer. There were also sea guns
wild ducks and divers of many kinds
In places the sea was covered Win
birds, and a great flock Of cormorants
or pelicans would drop out Of the SKY
on to the water. covering an acre OF SO
at one time. The birds feed in the sea
The pelicans have pouches or bags
| of yellow skin under their necks, and
l they scoop the fish into these. They
! often gorge themselves to such an ex-
! tent that they cannot rise from the
] water, but remain there until they
have digested sufficient of their eaten
! to tighten the weight. They always
| hunt in flocks, and when they settle
! on some place where the fish are aoun-
| dant, they form islands on the sea
/ mile or so in diameter
| Dr. Forbes says that they sit so
! close together that those on the OUTSIDE
! have to rise first before the birds IN
/ the interior are able to get enough
| air under their wings to enable them
to rise from the sea.
Dr. Forbes has found that the most
| of the guano comes from eight species
Of birds. The chief Of these is Bou-
| gainville's cormorant, whose chief nest
4 ing place is the Chincha islands Last
| February DR.. Forbes found 100000
/ of these birds nesting in the middle
/ of one Of these islands
The nests were close together, and
| the whole formed one of the most
wonderful bird sights of the world he
/ watched them, and found that eacn
nest had its male and female, and that
! one bird sat on the nest while the
other was feeding, and that it. in turn,
| was relieved by its mate. The cor
! morants started for their fishing
| grounds at 5 or in the morning and
| flew in a broad stream perhaps LOT
feet wide. This stream continued toI
hours.
The guano Of the LobOs islands IS
found in pockets covered with layers
of sand from two to Is feet deep
These are old deposits. The sand is
shoveled off, and the guanO is dug out
The stuff looks like fine sand. As it /:
dug up, a strong smell of ammonia
| rises and the workmen wear ir2r
masks over their faces to keep tn
ammoneal dust out of their lungs.
The guanO is loaded upon trucks and
carried on a tramway to the shore
where it is transferred to the ships 70
Europe OF the United States Sue
loading is now being done on the Chin
cha islands as we'll, and upon tn
smaller islands still in the hands o
the Peruvian government.
When these islands were first dis
covered they had. guanO deposits .
feet deep, and Alexander Humboldt
who visited them 10 years ago, sal
that they then contained enough ma
] nue. to enrich all of the worn-out land