[3] The song is a somewhat lark-like but often disjointed series of notes, sometimes clear and loud but at other times soft, and is sung from an elevated position near the top of a tree, on a pole or on a wire.

Its breeding range extends from Portugal, southern Spain and the Balkan Peninsula, through the Middle East to Iraq, Kazakhstan and Pakistan.

Its habitat is dry scrubby open country with patches of dense bushes in lowlands or foothills; where it is numerous, it may also be found in parks, vineyards and large gardens.

[5] The rufous-tailed scrub robin is found flitting among dense cover but also in more open positions on trees, the tops of bushes and on posts.

It feeds mainly on the ground on insects such as beetles, grasshoppers and the larvae of butterflies and moths, and on earthworms, turning over the leaf litter to find its prey.

The nest is built a few feet off the ground in a bush, a hedge of prickly pear, on a tree stump or other concealed place.

The eggs average about 22 by 16 millimetres (0.87 in × 0.63 in) and have a pale greenish or greyish-white background colour liberally sprinkled with greyish-brown spots.

[3] Sometimes the rufous-tailed scrub robin is found in association with a woodchat shrike (Lanius senator), perhaps nesting in a neighbouring tree.

The woodchat shrike perches near the top of a tree, ever alert to sparrowhawks, buzzards and other aerial predators while the scrub robin perches on a bush or lower branch, scanning the ground for the approach of snakes, cats, weasels, foxes, genets, ocellated lizards and other predators.

Both birds are adept at luring away predators by flying towards them to attract their attention and then flitting away from the nest site through the undergrowth.