In breeding plumage, the male has a chestnut head and back and a yellow belly. It breeds in the Russian Far East and northeastern China, then migrates to southern China and Southeast Asia for winter.
A breeding male has a chestnut head and back and a lemon-yellow belly. Females have a grayish-brown crown, pale buff eyebrow, and fine breast and flank streaks; nonbreeding males and juveniles are browner.
It uses coniferous, deciduous, and mixed forest with underbrush in the breeding season. During migration and winter it uses forest edges and shrub-covered farmland, foraging mainly on the ground and retreating to nearby branches when startled.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.