A small, dour, gray-brown lapwing with a white belly and a well-defined white patch on the forehead. In flight it has a distinctive white wedge on the back of the inner wing. Small groups scurry over open dry savanna and short-grass plains below 1600 m, looking for insects. It moves to areas experiencing bush fires as it prefers breeding in recently burned grasslands. It can be surprisingly unobtrusive, but the loud two-note “chi-whoo” call often gives it away. The similar Black-winged Lapwing differs by preferring high-altitude grassland and cultivation above 1300 m and in being larger, having reddish (not dark) legs, a larger, diffuse forehead patch, and a dark edge to the back of the inner wing.