This active species feeds on insects, other invertebrates such as sand hoppers, as well as seeds and buds (5) (4). It picks seeds from the ground or from low vegetation (5). The nest, which is usually well concealed in a hole or under boulders comprises of a cup of moss and grasses, lined with feathers (4). There are often two broods per year, each clutch containing four to six eggs, which are laid between May and late July (4). By July or August the young will have fledged (4). Large flocks may form in winter (2) numbering several hundred birds at particularly good sites (5).