Very few examples of this species, whose home is in the mountainous regions of Europe, have occurred in these islands. It spends its life climbing over the bare and precipitous surfaces of rock, searching for spiders and other insects on which it feeds.

The general colour is slate grey with crimson wing coverts and a black throat. The tail feathers are not stiff as in the preceding species. Length 6 in.; wing 3·9 in.