It occurs in the Malay Peninsula from southern Thailand to Singapore, and in Sumatra.

[1] It is chestnut-brown with a greyish face and underparts, and is 12.5–13.5 cm (4.9–5.3 in) long.

It feeds on small Coleoptera beetles, Phasmida insects, ants, and Hemiptera bugs.

[3] Timalia erythroptera was the scientific name proposed by Edward Blyth in 1842 for an olive-brown babbler from Nepal.

[5][2] The grey-hooded babbler (C. bicolor) of Borneo was formerly considered conspecific.