In breeding plumage, the male of the western subspecies has a purple crown and blue tail. The subspecies lives in thick river-edge vegetation from the Victoria River catchment to the northern Kimberley.
Breeding males of the western subspecies have a vivid purple crown with a black center and a broad black band through the eyes and around the nape. The back and wings are cinnamon to sandy, the throat and breast are white, and the deep blue tail has broad white tips on all but the central pair of feathers. Females lack the purple crown and black band and have broad red-brown cheek patches.
The western subspecies uses thick riparian vegetation, typically canegrass or pandanus, and lives in small family groups of two to six or more birds. It is territorial and sedentary, feeds in the undergrowth or on the ground, and eats insects plus small amounts of seeds.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.