Richer brown in colour than other pipits in the region, it is distinctive in having the streaking on the breast continuing along the flanks.

The Nilgiri pipit is about 12.6–14 centimetres (5.0–5.5 in) long and is richly coloured, has dark lores, a buff supercilium and throat.

[7] The Nilgiri pipit is closely associated with short montane grasslands interspersed with marshy grounds and small streams mostly in hill slopes above 1,000 metres (3,300 ft) in the Ponmudi hills and above 1,500 metres (4,900 ft) in the Nilgiris, Palani and High Ranges.

[5] They have also been claimed to occur in the Kalakkad Mundanthurai Tiger Reserve[9] but a 2014 study suggests that the species is restricted to the high altitude grassy peaks of the Nilgiris and the Anamalais.

Museum specimens exist from the Palani ranges but habitat changes may have led to its reduction or extirpation as the species was not found in surveys in the 21st century.