This bush-shrike lives in woodland, forest edges, savanna woodland, and thickets. It eats insects and small animals, and wing markings vary by region.
The general adult plumage has glossy blue-black upperparts and tail, white spots on the rump, and white underparts; the breast and flanks may have a buff or pink tinge.
It uses forest and forest edges, savanna woodland, thickets, and gardens; in dry parts of its range it also uses riparian forest. It eats insects and other arthropods, small vertebrates, and sometimes fruit or snails. It may hold large prey with a foot or impale it on a thorn.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.