This small bird occurs widely across Madagascar, and its plumage varies by sex and subspecies. It searches for insects near the forest floor.
In the nominate subspecies of northeastern Madagascar, the male is glossy blue-black with a white shoulder patch. The female has gray-brown upperparts, gray underparts, and cinnamon-rufous flanks. Other subspecies differ in the amount of white plumage.
It searches for insects, spiders, and earthworms in undergrowth and on the forest floor, and may also eat berries in season. Females forage mainly near the ground, while males use higher parts of the undergrowth.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.