Small, plump brown bird with a fairly long tail sometimes held cocked. Has lighter brown underparts, a faint white eyebrow, and black streaking on the face and throat. Found in rocky grasslands with short grass at high elevations, where it forages on the ground between patches of grass. Compared to the similar Cordilleran Canastero, Streak-throated has more prominent streaking in the face and throat and a brown tail (reddish brown in Cordilleran). Its song is a soft, short trill, and it also gives bursts of “pit” notes.