The bird remotely resembles the robin, although smaller and more slender. It frequents bushy places and is often detected by noisy rummaging among dead leaves.

It breeds in open brushy places, barrens, slashings, and forest edges from Canada to the gulf coast, and often ventures into landscaped yards.

Its call is a loud chewink, and the southern birds have a proper southern drawl, a slurred shrink.