The black bushbird (Neoctantes niger) is a species of bird in subfamily Thamnophilinae of family Thamnophilidae, the "typical antbirds".

[3] The black bushbird was described by the Austrian ornithologist August von Pelzeln in 1859 and given the binomial name Xenops niger.

The species inhabits lowland terra firme and várzea evergreen forest; it is more common in the latter.

It forages mostly by picking, hammering, and digging into branches, woody vines, and rotten wood.

It was found in September in Peru, a messy, bulky cup of leaves and other plant material suspended in a shrub's branch fork.

The nest failed the next day due to predation or a storm so the incubation period, time to fledging, and other details of parental care could not be determined.

[1] It is not well known and considered rare to locally uncommon, but its numbers may be underestimated due to its secretive habits.