As the name suggests, this is a fairly uninteresting-looking fulvetta without flashy distinguishing characteristics. Both sexes are brown with a gray head and a horn-colored bill. Most common in lowland and foothill forest; less frequently found in upper elevation montane forests. Typically moves in low and middle levels of forest, often in small flocks and as part of mixed flocks. Song is a high, thin, chime-like “tu-dee-tu-dee-tu-dee”.