 It is found primarily in papyrus stends at altitudes of between 900 and 1600 m, but is also found in cultivation near highland papyrus.It always builds its nests in papyrus stands, using papyrus leaves as the main material.The papyrus canary was formerly placed in the genus "Serinus" but phylogenetic analysis using mitochondrial and nuclear DNA sequences found that the genus was polyphyletic.