The fire-eyes are 16–18 cm in length, weigh 25-36 g and have characteristic red eyes that give them their name.

They have sexually dimorphic plumage, with the females possessing brown to buff coloured bodies with black tails, and the males being black with small patches of white on the back or wings.

The fire-eyes eat a variety of insects, and will regularly follow army ants in order to catch prey flushed by them.

[3] The genus Pyriglena was introduced by the German ornithologist Jean Cabanis in 1847.

[8] A study published in 2017 recommended that the white-backed fire-eye should be spit into three separate species.