The female has brown upper parts with a blackish tail flanked by white.

It breeds in northern Eurasia from eastern Russia to Siberia and Mongolia.

It is a winter visitor to South and South-east Asia in Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Nepal, Malaysia, Thailand, China, Vietnam, and Japan.

The genus name is from Latin and refers to a small fig-eating bird (ficus, fig) supposed to change into the blackcap in winter.

The specific name albicilla is from Latin albus, white, and Neo-Latin cilla tail; this meaning of cilla arose from a misunderstanding of motacilla, the name for the wagtail.