Around Tucson, Arizona, Finley found these birds extremely shy, but Gilman states they are fairly tame in New Mexico, where they often come into yards, drink with the chickens and dig in the gardens with their pickax bills.
Merrill says they were numerous in the creosote belt and wide arroyos where mimbrés grow profusely. It descends to lower levels in winter, where on warm days it often utters its rich, full but neither loud nor varied song. They often sing from the ground, instead of from a bush tip.
Its call notes "queety-queety" and a scolding "cha" often were heard in the mesquite.
NEST: A bulky collection of coarse twigs, lined with grass, small twigs and rootlets, located in brush near ground.
Eggs: 3 — plain pale bluish green.
Deserts of southwestern United States, from southern Nevada and southern Utah to southeastern California and western Texas.
Usually a low spreading shrub but in moist situation attaining tree proportions — 25 feet. Distributed on bluffs and banks of lower Rio Grande, Texas.