In Hong Kong this small warbler is a common winter visitor to dense vegetation in open-canopy places. It also breeds in montane scrub there.
It is about 11–12 cm long, small and plump, with a faint buff eyebrow, a broad eye stripe, rufous- to gray-brown upperparts, a pale chest, and gray flanks.
Outside the breeding season it is solitary and moves through cover near ground level, feeding on invertebrates and their larvae or eggs. In Hong Kong it uses tall grass and scrub in winter and montane scrub for breeding.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.