The species occurs in parks and gardens, cultivations and date groves, as well as semi-desert and scrubland with good vegetation cover (Jennings 2010, Aspinall and Porter 2011). During migration, the species also occupies very arid places, but it generally avoids dry habitat during the breeding season, when it favours shaded, leafy areas with water readily available (Jennings 2010). It forages on the ground in leaf litter and under dense vegetation, where it takes mostly invertebrates and, especially during migration, also berries of Salvadora persica trees (Jennings 2010). The breeding season lasts from late spring to mid-summer (Jennings 2010). The nest is a loose flat cup of dry grass stems, twigs and bark, lined with fine fibres, hair and feathers. It is built in dense vegetation, often on the trunk of a date palm, on branches, in vines or in tree holes (Jennings 2010). It is possible that the species is double- or even triple-brooded (Jennings 2010).