A thickset, rather slow-moving, heavy-looking but quite acrobatic finch with a strikingly broad white rump, often evident as it dives out of sight through a hedge or into a thicket.

You might expect such a subtly but beautifully coloured bird to be easy to see, but it is often rather elusive, drawing attention to itself only by its low, fluted calls. It often feeds in pairs at the edges of woods or hedges, quietly slipping out of sight if approached.