This laughingthrush inhabits shrubs and low scrub in the mountains and nearby foothill plains of northern and central China. The nominate form is grey-brown and has a bright yellow down-curved bill. Birds answer one another’s calls.
The nominate subspecies has plain grey-brown upperparts, paler underparts, a pale eyebrow and a dark chin. Its bill is bright yellow, curved downward and greener at the tip. The concolor subspecies is greyer and less brown.
It lives in shrubs and low scrub in mountains and nearby plains. Its call is described as repeated diudiudiu notes answered by other birds; its song is varied.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.