This bird has dark olive-brown upperparts, a white line in front of the eye and orange-rufous underparts. It is recorded in montane forests of western Cameroon and southeastern Nigeria; a Cameroon survey found it in primary and secondary forest.
The 1883 British Museum catalogue describes the adult type as having a dark olive-brown head and back, a blackish face, and a white line from the base of the bill to the front of the eye. Its underparts are deep orange-rufous, with a pale yellow-brown centre to the belly. The central tail feathers are blackish; the outer feathers are rufous with dark tips. The description does not state the bird’s sex.
A survey in November 1991 and March 1992 recorded the species as common in the Rumpi Hills Forest Reserve at 1,100–1,650 m, in both primary and secondary forest. The field account does not cover its feeding or breeding behaviour.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.