A tiny, dark wren of interior forests. Adult is patterned buffy and chocolate-brown overall with fine dark barring on wings and tail, barred flanks, clean buffy breast, thin pale supercilium, and slender black bill. Very short tail is often cocked upright. Sexes are similar.

Length: 10 (cm) Wingspan: 14 (cm)

Voice:

Incredibly musical, loud, long, burbling phrases, with liquid notes, trills, and whistles. Call is a sharp tick note that is usually paired.

Habitat:

Dark, shady forests with dense understory; moist woodlands, tangles, rootwads, riparian areas, coniferous woods.

Behavior:

Skulks near ground among dense vegetation, crawling among crevices and dark recesses. Often quite unwary. Typically bobs vertically on perch. Nest is an enclosed sphere with side entrance, constructed of sticks and moss and well-concealed in tangle, rootwad, or low shrub. Eastern and western birds may be split into separate species.

Feeding:

Gleans low foliage, tangles, and ground for a variety of insects, spiders, and other small invertebrates.