Sleek gray songbird with white cheek patch and black face and throat; Hainan subspecies has a browner body and no white patch. Forages on the ground in a variety of lowland and hilly wooded and forested areas, including dense primary forest and brushy forest edges. Noisily flips over leaves and twigs to root out invertebrates. Usually found in pairs or small flocks. Noisy and vocal; a beautiful songster with a rich, warbling song, into which it often expertly incorporates the vocalizations of other species. Unfortunately, popular in the cagebird trade, and declining or extirpated in parts of range.