A rare resident endemic to grassy moist highlands of the Western Ghats. A large warbler-like bird with rufous brown upperparts, long brown tail, buffy underparts, white throat and supercilum, and thick beak. Male performs song flights during breeding season; the song is a lark-like repeated trill that is accompanied by fanned tail and fluttering flight. The gape color is black in males, and obvious during song, but is brown in females.The nest is a ball of coarse grass blades with an entrance on the side, placed low in a tussock of long grass.