Locality is the best guide in identification of this unobtrusive bird. They prefer quiet, secluded thickets near streams or ponds and spend their lives in such undergrowth. When sought out they are extremely tame, permitting examination of their homes without protest; remaining nearby and peering at the intruder with curious eyes. The single call note peet is sometimes varied with faint twittering which resembles rustling wings.
NEST: Semipensile, in sapling forks within 20 feet of the ground; built of grass, bark, cocoons and catkins.
EGGS: 2 or 3; pale buff specked with brown.
Eastern North America. West to central States and south to northern Florida and Texas.
A 20-foot tree (often a shrub), distributed in swamps from New England to Gulf States. West to Minnesota and Arkansas.