A chocolate-brown back and bright yellow skin around the eye help identify this bird. In Hispaniola's mountain forests, it searches leaf litter for small animals and seeds.
The back is chocolate brown, the cheeks and chest are white, and grey mixes into the lower belly. A bright yellow patch lies in front of the eye. Birds examined in western Sierra de Neiba had a pale yellow eye-ring broken at the front and slightly wider at the rear.
It is shy and hard to see, living among dense mountain forest vegetation. It searches leaf litter for invertebrates such as centipedes and spiders, and also eats seeds.
In western Sierra de Neiba, Dominican Republic, in February 2003, birds called mainly early and late in the day, and singing was also recorded.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.