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62 Chronicles of the Cape Fear River

waste of marsh or cypress-grown water, it has escaped extermi-
nation only through the aid of its human friends.

There are twenty heron colonies along the Atlantic coast, but
only three are protected by individuals; the rest are cared for
by the National Association of Audubon Societies. One of these
is the Crane Neck colony, belonging to Mr. James Sprunt, the
present owner of Orton Plantation, and wholly preserved by
him. He who notes the sparrow’s fall put into the heart of
Mr. Sprunt a great love for wild creatures, and it is a joy and
satisfaction to him to afford the heron wise enough to seek

refuge at Crane Neck complete protection from the mercenary
and merciless plume-hunter. Here the snowy egret, American

egret, great blue, little blue, black-crowned night, Louisiana,
and green herons nest and chatter of the brooding time in as
great security as others of their kind, peopling, perchance, the
same pond, and mingling their familiar “quock, quock” with
the rippling waters as the first ship sailed up the Cape Fear,

enjoyed more than two hundred and fifty years ago. No doubt |

the adventurous explorers, Hilton, Fabian, and Long, witnessed,
as those fortunate enough today may witness, the heron flight

high in the rare air of the purpling dawn, woven into its ravish-

ing cloud-films and vanishing with them.

“They near, they pass, set sharp against the sky;
Grotesques some Orient artist might have drawn
Blue on a golden dawn;

They pass, are gone like leaves blown cloud-high,—
And oh, my heart is mad to follow where they fly!”

Such may have been the sentiment of the early adventurous
spirit, dreaming of conquest; such seems now the sentiment of
certain heirs of that conquest, dreaming of greed. But the
heron of Crane Neck flies in peace.

This colony was brought to the attention of the ornithological
world in 1898 by Mr. T. Gilbert Pearson, secretary of the
National Association of Audubon Societies, himself a North
Carolinian, and the association, of which Mr. Sprunt is a mem-
ber, feels unusual satisfaction in the preservation by its owner
of this single egret colony in the State. According to the report
of Mr. Pearson at this time, “the colony contains probably 800
pairs of little blue herons, about the same number of Louisiana
herons, 125 pairs of great blue herons, 40 pairs of American

egrets, 25 pairs of snowy egrets, and probably 20 pairs of black-

 

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Permanent Settlement 63

“Towned night herons, also a few green herons, and now and
then a few anhingas.”’
—— curator of the State Museum, Mr. H. H. Brimley, visited
Pit fe aa 1913, and reported a somewhat smaller number
sae ee earson now estimates, but both have stated that the
BA : 0 is its own. Mr. Brimley makes the encouraging state-
‘as ee at “the American egrets have increased in number dur-
a Se past sae years, and that the snowy egrets have at least
of the = Own,” and adds, ‘No evidence of any kind was noted
ane ume herons having been ‘shot up.’ ” Concluding, Mr.
.-» Says: “The pride taken in this interesting heron colony
os » Mr. James Sprunt, of Wilmington, and his inter-
est In the e

; Onservation of all wild life, is responsible for its

i
wee from being ‘shot up.’ It is widely known, locally,
ti © Means of reaching it are known even to some of the old-
‘me plume-

hunters, and to the efforts of Mr. Sprunt in pre-
€ birds all praise is due.” The feeling expressed
mley is the feeling entertained by all bird-lovers, who
t the heron has this safe retreat.

Serving thes

TeJoice tha

PLANTATIONS ON THE NORTHEAST RIVER.

By Dr. Jonn Hamppen HI.

A
bout forty-one years ago Dr. John Hampden Hill,1 a promi-

hey Fear planter of Lilliput, a gentleman of culture and
esting nea senerally respected and admired, wrote some inter-
reasons oe ‘of the Lower Cape Fear, and for personal
them from eat his friend, Mr. DuBrutz Cutlar, to reserve
earnest astlete - ation until after the author’s death. Upon my
Papers in ation, however, he permitted me to copy these

the year 18 ; : :
Paper arti 92 and to use them in a series of news

began to be visited, and settlements made
from Europe and from the other provinces,
arliest places that attracted attention was Stag
first located and patented by George Burrington,
€rnor of the province of North Carolina. This Gov-

urrin - a
80 much ston was a very worthless and profligate character,

—__" 80, that on one occasion being at Edenton, he was pre-

1
19, Trp atti was

1893. ata born April 28, 1807, at Hyrneham, and died February
Christian lite “boro, full of years and the consolations of an honorable

by emigrants

Po nest the e
ark, It was