A large and colorful robin-chat with a black face mask that continues onto the chin. The color of the crown is pure white in the far western part of the range, and white with black markings elsewhere. A shy bird of dense thickets, gardens, and forest, often along rivers and streams. Similar to Snowy-crowned Robin-Chat, but larger, usually with black markings in the white crown, and with a black rather than orange chin. Usually detected by song, a fast and complex mix of musical whistles.