 The usual habitat is rainforest gullies, generally with streams nearby.In the Sydney Basin this may be the Illawarra escarpment, and wetter places in the Dharug- and Royal National Parks.Insectivorous, they feed at ground level, unlike the related large-billed scrubwren ("S. magnirostris") which lives in the same wet forest habitat but forages higher in the leaf layer and on branches.