It is a resident breeder of dry country from northwestern Africa from Morocco south to Mali and east to Chad.

[2] In Morocco, the species has expanded from the Atlas Mountains northwards since the 1960s, and has recently reached Tangier [3] and Tétouan [4] on the southern shore of the Strait of Gibraltar.

The house bunting breeds around human habitation, laying two to four eggs in a nest in a hole in a wall or building.

The breeding male has a sandy orange-brown body and a grey head slightly dark-streaked but without the white supercilium that the striolated bunting has.

In Morocco, the species is traditionally regarded as sacred, and has become very tame, freely entering and feeding inside houses, shops and mosques.