The Chestnut-capped Babbler is a small, skulking bird. A field study in southern West Bengal recorded it in grasslands along the Rupnarayan and Damodar rivers.
A study in southern West Bengal recorded individuals with red irises. The authors tentatively suggested they were males because these birds called and emerged from the grass more often in the breeding season; this is not a confirmed sex marker.
The paper's introduction, citing earlier field guides, describes groups of six to eight hidden in tall grass, reed beds, and scrub, feeding on insects from leaves and twigs.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.