Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1914-12-06

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
ara based upon the work of DIT. II. o.
Forbeg, a celebrated ornithologist. who
has been sent by the president of Peru
to report upon the islands and advise the
government al to their future. DR..
Forbes has visited the whole coast In q
motor boat. and has investigated ali the
islands and roosting rocks. studying the
birds and their possibilities. He has
caught some of the birds and kept them
with view to see how much guano each
win produce. He finds that the amount
OF fish consumed by them is enormous.
A eIngle pelican will eat from eight TO
ten pounds day and 1t deposits an enor-
nous amount OF guano in the course OF a
nesting season. A sea gull Will drop from
: four to six ounces per day or something
i like twenty-eight pounds during the time
Il Is breeding Other birds produce more
and the total amount is very great
Deposits May he Worked Again.
DR. Forbes has divided the guano ar
| chipelago into zones and it is his Idea
that each zone will be worked only
once in four years, during which times
the Other zones win be accommodating
guano. In this way the supply Will be
continuous and the islands may again
be enormously profitable.
During my trip off the guano Islands
we had millions of pelicanB flying over
our steamer There were also sea gulls'
wild ducks and divers OF many kinds
; In places the sea was covered with birds,
) and a great flock of cormorants or
pelicans would drop out OF the sky on
to the water covering an acre or so at
one time. The birds feed in the sea. The
pelicans have pouches or bags OF yellow
, skin under their necks and they scoop
the fish into these. They often gorge
themselves to such an extent that they
cannot rise from the water. but remain
there until they have digested sufficient
of their catch TO tighten the weight They
/, always hunt in flocks, and when they
settle on some place where the fish are
abundant, 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.
DIR. Forbes has founc that the most Of
the guano comes from eight species OF
birds The chief OF these is Bougain-
, ville's cormorant, whose chief nesting
/, place is the Chincha islands. Last Feb
: ruary 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 each 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 it's mate. The cormorants started fol-
! their fishing grounds at or in the
morning, and flew in a broad stream
|, perhaps 100 feet wide This stream con.
, tinued for hours.
s Pelican Comes Next.
The next bird in Importance IL IN,
Y pelican. This also nests In great flock,
{ and in the same neighborhood as tn,
eormorants. When the pelieans are feed
e ing 500 or 5000 of them may be seer
y diving together. They FIJI the Krea,
{ pouches under their bills, and carry tn,
fish away to eat them at their leisure.
Another bird is the gannet. who's,
, young are beautiful little creatures GOV
3 cred with the purest white down. Tt,
3 gannets fly in flocks OF from ten I,
l. twenty thousand, and they go down, Xix,
4 so many rockets. into the sea.
s The guano OF the Lobas islands 4
8 found In pockets covered with layer
e OF sand from two to fifteen feet deep
y These are old deposits The sand 4
shoveled off, and the guano Is dug out
The stuff looks like fine sand. AS It d
d dug up strong smell of ammonia raise
: and the workmen wear iron masks owe
Z their faces 10 keep the ammoneal dus
. out OF their lungs The guano is Ioads,
}. upon trucks and carried on a tramwa,
9 TO the shore. where II is transferred d
n the ships for Europe or the United states
z Such loading IL now being done on tn,
Chineha Islands as well. and upon IN
= smaller islands stlll in the hands OF tn,
q Peruvian government
!. When these islands were first dIscov
e cred they had guano deposits sixty fee