A dowdy, nondescript bird that looks like a lark but behaves in typical bunting fashion. It lacks any diagnostic field characteristics apart from the pale cinnamon wash over the breast and the rufous edgingto the wing feathers.
Female and jevenile are paler than male.
Karoo scrub, dry rocky valleys and open plains, thornveld and dry broad-leaved woodland. Gathers in large numbers at waterholes.
a soft, nasal 'tuc-tuc'; a short, rapid buzzy song.