MANDARIN DIAMOND

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The zebra finch, also known as the diamond finch or incorrectly as the bengal finch, is a passerine bird in the Estrildidae family.

These are small birds, measuring between 8 and 12 cm in length and weighing up to 12 grams: at the same age, both sexes are similar in size.
Domesticated specimens, even the "ancestral" varieties (i.e. with unchanged shape and color compared to wild specimens), tend to be heavier due to more constant nutrition, reaching 40 g in weight.

The body is rather robust and rounded, with a tail with square edges and a stocky, robust beak.

This species presents a clear sexual dimorphism with regards to the colour of its plumage: both sexes are mouse-grey on the back, with a tendency to lighten towards the ventral area, until it becomes white on the belly and undertail, while on the wings the grey tends to fade to brownish.
The tail is black with white bands, and under the eyes there is a characteristic black "teardrop" that reaches the chin and delimits two off-white whiskers on the sides of the beak.
The male zebra finch also has a distinctive orange patch on each cheek (also bordered by a "teardrop"), a zebra-like pattern on the throat and chest, where this pattern culminates in a black horizontal band, as well as a black bib on the chin and a brick-red band dotted with white on the flanks.
The beak is orange-pink in the female, while in the male it is coral red: the legs are orange in both sexes.

Furthermore, numerous colour variants (around 50 accredited) of this bird have been selected in captivity, including "white", "piebald", "black cheek", "black breasted" etc., whose particularities are easily understood from the name.