Smaller, darker cuckooshrike; adult male has dark grey head, mantle, breast; black wings; paler grey belly, vent; tail feathers tipped white, giving impression of large white spots; darkest of the cukooshrikes; female paler grey; faint barring on undersides; sometimes has white ring above and below eye; racial variations; singly, or in pairs; gregarious; often joins other insectivores in bird waves; arboreal; actively hunts for insects in foliage of upper forest storeys, occasionally in undergrowth.

Male: white head and neck, speckled black; fleshy knob (comb) on top of beak; black back has purple green gloss; greyish lower back; white lower-neck collar and underbody; short black bars extend on sides of upper breast and flanks. Female: duller, smaller; lacks comb. Small parties, either on water or in trees over water; nests in tree cavities; feeds on surface and in cultivation; can also dive.