The Rufous-headed Ground Roller searches for food on the damp forest floor of eastern Madagascar. Adults show a rufous head and underparts, a green back, and white streaks on the black throat.
Adults have a dark rufous head and underparts, a dark green back and tail, and a black throat and upper chest marked with white streaks. The sexes look similar.
It searches the damp forest floor, running and climbing among leaf litter and rotten wood. It eats mostly invertebrates such as ants and beetles, and can be active at dusk and at night as well as by day.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.