State

November 28, 1936 THE STATE Роде Five Saving the Game Birds AN interesting experiment Is in progress at Lees-McRae College and is meeting with great success in helping propagate more game birds in that section. By IDA BRIGGS HENDERSON A hen grouse in one of the feeding pens which have been built at Lees-McRae College game farm, Banner Elk, N. C. 4T Lees-MeRae College, March. 1931, there was established a ^Жкате farm as part of the cur¬ riculum of the institution. The nature of this work is so closely allied to poul¬ try and mountain farming that it is now a part of the agricultural course which is offered at the college. This college is the chief unit of the triune forming the Tufts Memorial Associ¬ ation and Edgar Tufts, son of the founder of the institution and present president of it, was the prime promoter in beginning the game farm. This particular game farm is one of the units fostered by “More Game Birds in America, Inc.,” a foundation intended primarily to educate those interested in the propagation of game birds, such as grouse, quail, pheasants, turkeys, etc. Lees-McRae Game Bird Farm is located near the little town of Banner Elk, in the heart of the Blue Ridge mountains in northwestern North Carolina, at an elevation of 4,000 feet, probably the highest such farm east of the Rockies. A New Experiment Grouse rearing in captivity is yet in its infancy, but from the manner in which it is being handled by the Lees- McRae plant it holds out great possi¬ bilities. In working out tne curricu¬ lum for this department. Mr. Tufts went to the State Department of Con¬ servation for advice and they put him in touch with the New York people who sent their agent. Fred C. Ott, there to advise and assist in the management of the farm in its formation. He taught one of the 1931 graduates, Denis Gault- ney, the rudiments of the business, nnd he, since Mr. Ott returned home, has had charge of the game farm. Early spring is the mating season of the grouse. Then the gallant little cocks ruff their feathers, lift their voices in the mating call and use their wings ns drum sticks to bent the ground to thus create a noise similar to the dis¬ tant throb of drum beats, gradually get¬ ting faster and faster. This sound car¬ ries for at least half a mile, and can l>e heard distinctly from far up on the mountain sides, filling the night with a weird music. The grouse pens are 8 by 10 feet in dimension, 4 feet high, heavily wired in. The feeding boxes or “troughs” are over at one side, the built-in nests in the opposite corner. The little hens lay about 18 eggs each— and ns these are too valuable to experiment with, they are hatched in an incubator and the young chicks reared in an electric brooder until they are large enough to be trusted to the care of mother hens. “I got my start of grouso eggs,” ex¬ plained Mr. Tufts, “through the kind¬ ness of the T.invillo Company, owners of Grandfather Mountain. They per¬ mitted us to take eggs from their prop¬ erty. Mr. Ott located the first nest on the ledge of a huge boulder; it was thoroughly camouflaged nnd contained 12 eggs. The hen was off the nest so we were uncertain if the eggs were abandoned and spoiled, llowover, the eggs were promptly placed in a corru¬ gated iron box containing a hot-water bottle, and rushed back to the game farm where each clutch was placed un¬ der a broody bantam hen. After a few days the eggs hatched out and we had our start of grouse.” It is rather a queer fact that laurel leaves, while poison to most other birds, furnish a staple food for grouse. Laurel grows in great abundance in our moun¬ tain section and the leaves are kept freshly gathered in the grouse pens. Mr. Tufts says he considers that particular region of the Blue Ridge as the Scot¬ land of America. And, with proper protection, propagation and develop¬ ment, this natural resource of game wild life should ere long cause western North Carolina to rival Scotland, which boasts a huge income yearly from grouse hunting. Quail and Pheasants The quail pens house about 29 birds to each pen. The pens are similar to those for the grouse, except that in one corner of each pen is piled brush under which the timid quail seek seclusion— unlike the grouse they are exceedingly shy although the third generation was then in captivity. Even when the reg¬ ular man brought the evening meal, the quail stayed behind tho brush as long as strangers were near. The; nje prolific layers, sometimes producing nearly 100 eggs per season; the eggs (Continued on page eighteen)