A medium-sized sandy-brown scrub-robin with pale unstreaked underparts. It has a brownish back and an auburn-rusty rump and tail with a white-tipped black terminal band. Pairs frequent thickets and clumps of thorn trees in Kalahari woodland, where they forage on the ground with the tail often cocked and rocking sideways, or perch in trees singing a varied musical song that often reveals their presence. The similar Red-backed Scrub-Robin differs in having white on the wing and a streaked breast.