Record #:

12275

Author(s):

Hall, Lewis Phillip

Abstract:

Millions of purple martins once flocked to Wrightsville Sound in 1905. Their colossal flocks created a nuisance for local Atlantic View Hotel owner/proprietor Captain John Hanby by contaminating the water in the hotel's cisterns. Hanby called upon friends with shotguns to remove the birds, but only the eventual migration led to their departure. The bird's one redeeming feature was that they kept the mosquito population down that summer.

Source:

The State (NoCar F 251 S77), Vol. 39 Issue 3, July 1971, p12, 31, il

Subject(s):

Purple martin--Wrightsville Sound