Beautiful sparrow with black mask and crown separated by a white stripe. There are two distinct groups. Birds in western Ecuador and most of northwestern Peru have gray backs, while in the Marañon drainage of northern Peru and far southern Ecuador the back is olive-colored. Gray-backed birds are similar to male Collared Warbling-Finch, but breast band is smaller, face stripe does not reach past the front of the eye, and tail lacks white. Inhabits the understory of dry and semi-humid forest.