The White-throated Fantail is a small passerine bird. It is found in forest, scrub and cultivation across tropical southern Asia from the Himalayas, India and Bangladesh east to Indonesia.
The adult White-throated Fantail is about 20 cm long. It has a dark fan-shaped tail, edged in white, and white supercilium and throat. There is otherwise much variation in plumage between races. Most resemble the Himalayan which is mainly slate grey above and below, with a black eye mask, and a white throat and eyebrow, but of Peninsular India has whitish underparts, and a grey breast band that is spotted white.
The White-throated Fantail lays three eggs in a small cup nest in a tree. The White-throated Fantail is insectivorous, and often fans its tail as it moves through the undergrowth.