diff --git a/.unittests b/.unittests
index ac7dba916b..4b33e00558 100755
--- a/.unittests
+++ b/.unittests
@@ -1,7 +1,13 @@
 #!/bin/bash
 
+python -c 'from distutils.version import LooseVersion as Ver; import nose, sys; sys.exit(0 if Ver(nose.__version__) >= Ver("1.2.0") else 1)'
+if [ $? != 0 ]; then
+    cover_branches=""
+else
+    cover_branches="--cover-branches"
+fi
 cd $(dirname $0)/test/unit
-nosetests --exe --with-coverage --cover-package swift. --cover-erase $@
+nosetests --exe --with-coverage --cover-package swift. --cover-erase $cover_branches $@
 rvalue=$?
 rm -f .coverage
 cd -
diff --git a/tox.ini b/tox.ini
index c093e0d049..1f37566e30 100644
--- a/tox.ini
+++ b/tox.ini
@@ -9,6 +9,8 @@ setenv = VIRTUAL_ENV={envdir}
          NOSE_OPENSTACK_YELLOW=0.025
          NOSE_OPENSTACK_SHOW_ELAPSED=1
          NOSE_OPENSTACK_STDOUT=1
+         NOSE_WITH_COVERAGE=1
+         NOSE_COVER_BRANCHES=1
 deps =
   -r{toxinidir}/requirements.txt
   -r{toxinidir}/test-requirements.txt
@@ -22,9 +24,6 @@ commands =
   flake8
   flake8 --filename=swift* bin
 
-[testenv:cover]
-setenv = NOSE_WITH_COVERAGE=1
-
 [testenv:venv]
 commands = {posargs}