This ground-dwelling bird lives in arid and semi-arid southern Australia. Males have a black face and breast with a white eyebrow; females have a gray throat and breast, and may show little chestnut on the rump.
It is gray-brown above, with a chestnut lower back and rump. Males have a black face, chin, throat and breast with a white eyebrow and malar streak. Females are duller, with gray throats and breasts; the chestnut rump may be almost absent.
In New South Wales it occurs mainly in mallee scrub, among low shrubs and grasses. It forages on the ground for insects and seeds, and more rarely fruit.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.