Comments: Thickets, brushy areas, fields, shrubbery, forest edge, clearings, around human habitation, and, in arid regions, in scrub, riparian thickets, woodland, and brush; typically avoids dense forest (but penetrates native forest in Hawaii).

Nests in dense shrubs, small deciduous or coniferous tree, thicket, vine, briar tangle, mesquite, generally 3 m or less above ground. Female builds a new nest in a different location on the territory for each nesting attempt (Filliater et al. 1994).