The nest, built by the female, is a deep cup of plant material lined with fine grass or horsehair.

The nape is narrowly grey and the rest of the upperparts are pale brown, streaked with black on the back, but unstreaked and more buff on the rump and tail.

Young birds have a duller, indistinct head pattern, with buff stripes and a brown ground colour, and have streaked breasts.

Thus the northernmost form, P. r. acuminata , is smaller than the nominate Costa Rican subspecies P. r. ruficauda, which has duller, browner upperparts, and paler, whiter underparts.

The male's song, given from an open perch, consists of dry thin notes, but shows geographical variation.