STATUS: Rare and irregular in Texas.
HABITAT: Generally prefers open, grassy places including pastures, roadsides, weedy fields, or marshlands covered with tall grasses in the vicinity of low-growing shrubs such as huisache or retaima.
NEST: Builds a delicate cup nest 3 to 5 feet above the ground in crotches of weeds or low shrubs. Frequently nests in abandoned weedy fields, often in giant ragweed.
FOOD: Generally forages among low shrubs and weeds to glean seeds of grasses and forbs; also eats some insects. (Little has been reported on its food habits.)
REFERENCES: Bent 1968a, Oberholser 1974b.