This babbler ranges across southeastern Laos and Vietnam. Males have rufous-chestnut backs, females have olive-brown backs, and both have black bars below. It searches mossy forest branches and trunks for food.
Males have rufous-chestnut upperparts, a slaty crown, and a dark mask. Females have an olive-brown mantle with dark streaks. Both sexes have white underparts with bold black bars on the breast sides and flanks; juveniles are duller.
At 1,200–1,500 m in broadleaf evergreen or mixed oak and pine forest, it moves slowly along trunks and branches, searching for insects, larvae, snails, seeds, and berries. Outside the breeding season it occurs in small groups or mixed flocks.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.