Striated Softtail

The striated softtail is 17 to 18 cm (6.7 to 7.1 in) long. The sexes have the same plumage. Adults have a buff supercilium and pale lores on a otherwise buff-streaked brown face. Their crown, back, rump, and uppertail coverts are dark reddish brown streaked with black-edged reddish-rufous to rufous-buff. Their tail is pale tawny to cinnamon-rufous. Their wings are mostly dark rufous with dusky tips on the flight feathers. Their chin and upper throat are orange-rufous to yellowish orange. The rest of their underparts are dull brown with buff streaks that fade on the belly and undertail coverts. Their iris is deep chestnut brown, their maxilla dusky horn to silvery gray, their mandible bluish gray with a dusky horn tip, and their legs and feet dull greenish gray. Juveniles have a dull brown chin and throat, less well-defined streaks on the back than adults, and mottled rather than streaked underparts.

The striated softtail is found in coastal southeastern Brazil from southern Bahia state south into northern Rio de Janeiro state. It inhabits tropical lowland evergreen forest, especially areas with dense vine tangles. In elevation it ranges from near sea level to 1,000 m (3,300 ft).

The striated softtail feeds on arthropods. It forages singly, in pairs, and in small groups that might be families, and usually as part of a mixed-species feeding flock. It forages from the forest's understorey to the subcanopy, gleaning its prey mostly in vine tangles but also along branches and in foliage.