BIRDS AT ENTEBBE 33 



the rain, when the crowned cranes fly up into the 

 tree-tops and shriek their evening chorus, and cloud 

 after cloud of white egrets fly down to settle on the 

 yellow-flowered ambatch-trees along the margin of 

 the lake. Black-and-white kingfishers drop with 

 a sounding splash into the water, seldom with suc- 

 cess, and, if you stand very still, you may chance to 

 see an otter hunting in the shallows. Noisy plantain- 

 eaters and giant hornbills fly high up from tree to 

 tree, and the monkeys wake up from their afternoon 

 snooze. The vervet monkey is common, but far 

 prettier is the little white-nosed monkey, a charming 

 little creature with black and chestnut fur and a white 

 nose. Occasionally one sees a colobus, a magnificent 

 black monkey with white whiskers and white ruff's 

 down its sides, and a long white, feathery tail. Shoot- 

 ing is forbidden in the immediate neighbourhood of 

 Entebbe, and the birds and monkeys have become 

 extraordinarily tame. It was here that I first heard 

 and saw flying wild the common grey parrot with 

 a red tail, that often calls so familiarly to the passers- 

 by from a London basement ; they are found wherever 

 there is forest, right across from Uganda to the 

 Atlantic, and now I can never hear one without 

 being carried back in memory to a shady garden 

 beside the Victoria Nyanza or to still evenings in 

 the Congo Forest. 



Another pleasant spot near Entebbe is the high 

 ground above the town, whence one may see a 

 view of lake and islands and forests that it would be 



3 



