The adult white-breasted wood wren is 10 centimetres (3.9 in) long and weighs 16 grams (0.56 oz). It has chestnut brown upperparts with a darker crown, pale supercilia, and black-and-white streaked sides of the head and neck. The underparts are white becoming buff on the lower belly. The wings and very short tail are barred with black. Young birds have duller upperparts and grey underparts.
H. leucosticta breeds in lowlands and foothills up to 1,850 metres (6,070 ft) above sea level in tropical wet forest and adjacent tall second growth. Its neat roofed nest is constructed on the ground or occasionally very low in undergrowth, and is concealed by dense vegetation. The eggs are incubated by the female alone for about two weeks to hatching, and the young fledge in about the same length of time again. This species may build a “dormitory nest” for individuals or family groups, which is typically higher, than the breeding nest, up to 3 metres (9.8 ft) off the ground.
The white-breasted wood wren forages actively in low vegetation or on the ground in pairs in family groups. It mainly eats insects and other invertebrates
