A mostly dark-gray cuckooshrike with distinctive dark rufous undertail coverts. Note dark eye. Locally common in remnant higher-quality hilly and montane habitat. The only other cuckooshrike regular on New Caledonia, South Melanesian Cuckooshrike, is more accepting of disturbed habitats. It also has a bright yellow eye and is notably more bluish-tinged gray than New Caledonian Cuckooshrike, and lacks the rufous vent of that species.