Columba unicincta of Cassin. 4.65 
had a chance of seeing in some numbers. I shot my first 
specimen at Entebbe two years ago; it was feeding along 
with some Green Pigeons (Vinago calva). I did not see the 
bird at the time, but shooting at a Green Pigeon, was lucky 
enough to bring down an example of this species as well. 
You identified it as Columba unicincta and told me to look out 
for more. I never saw another specimen in that locality, 
although I was frequently shooting over the same ground, 
and I came to the conclusion that it was a forest species 
(there was much forest in the neighbourhood), and only 
occasionally came into the open country on the outskirts 
of the forest. 
“On February 14th of the present year I again came 
across this bird, and had a repetition of my first introduction 
to it. I was travelling along a native track some eight miles 
west of Masindi when I saw some Green Pigeons fly from a 
tree just ahead of me, and thinking it probable that some 
still remained in the tree, took my gun and walked up to the 
tree and carefully looked for them. At first I could see none, 
but after straining my eyes for some seconds I observed a 
movement amongst the leaves and shot, when down fell my 
second specimen of C. unicincta. In this case again there 
was a strip of forest not far away. A few days later I 
camped at the edge of the Budongo Forest, some fifteen miles 
west of Masindi, and here, going out early one morning, 
noticed several of these birds flying from the forest to feed— 
in fact, they appeared to be quite common, feeding morning 
and evening on the outskirts of the forest on the same 
trees that the Green Pigeons frequented. Frequently both 
species feed together. They emerge from the forest soon 
after dawn, and again at about 4 o’clock in the afternoon, 
flying very high, almost always quite out of range, and 
alighting on the top of the highest tree in the vicinity of 
their feeding-ground. They seem to prefer to pitch on a 
leafless tree, from which they can survey the country round 
before coming down to the Jower trees on which they feed. 
1 shot most of my specimens by waiting in hiding under 
some high leafless tree. 
