The black-headed canary is 12–15 cm in length. The adult male has rich brown upper parts and tail, a white hind collar, and mainly white underparts. The head and central breast are solidly black.
The adult female is similar, but has a dull grey head, and is dark-streaked on the head and upper parts. It has a rich brown wing bar. The juvenile resembles the female, but is paler and has streaking on the breast and a weaker wing bar.
The Damara canary (Serinus leucolaema ) is often considered to be a subspecies of the black-headed canary. The male of that form has a strikingly different head pattern, with a white supercilium, and a white throat and foreneck with a black moustachial stripe. The black of the central breast is therefore separate from the black of the head.
The Damara canary is a common and gregarious seed-eater, forming flocks of up to 200 birds. Its call is a low tseett, and the male's song is a jumble of unmusical notes.
