This rail stands out for its gray head and neck, russet-brown breast and wings, and long yellow bill. It uses wet forest and stream edges, feeding on mollusks, frogs, fruit, seeds, and other small prey.
The head and neck are gray, while the breast and wings are russet brown. A long yellow bill, pink legs, and red eyes are conspicuous; juveniles are duller than adults. The colors suit a rail that walks through wet vegetation.
It walks through swamp forest, forest edges, and streamside vegetation, eating mollusks, arthropods, frogs, fruit, and seeds. The American Ornithological Society account also lists river-edge and gallery forest and freshwater marshes.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.