Size: 15-17cm

Description: small brown bird, sexes differ. Male has grey crown, cheeks and chest, rich brown mottled back, wings and tail, pale belly, and black around eye and under bill. Female (above) lacks the head markings and is instead a duller buff-brown all over, but shares the mottled brown wings. Both have short, thick, pointed bill though the male’s is black and the female’s orange-brown. Forages mostly on the ground.

Diet: mainly seeds and grains, though is opportunist and will take invertebrates, fruit, buds, berries, etc.

Song: noisy, makes a simple, often repeated “cheep”.

Breeds: March-August.