The color of the feathers of the male and female of the zebra finch (scientific name: Taeniopygia guttata) is different; the male is gray or light gray from the forehead to the back of the neck and the side of the neck, the eye part from the base of the mouth to the eye under the eye is white, outlined by two black longitudinal stripes, the cheeks and ear feathers are warm brown or orange-red, the chin, throat and chest light gray have very thin neat black stripes, the chin to the thorax are parallel and thicker, so that the lower edge is fused into black spots, and the sides and two sides of the chest are reddish-brown, and decorated with small white spots. The shoulders and wings are greyish brown, the flight feathers are dark gray, the middle of the waist and lower segments are white, the margins are gray or dark gray, the tail is black brown, the tail coverts are black with nearly rounded white spots, and the rest of the underparts are white or milky white. The mouth is vermilion to dark red , the eyes are dark brown in color , and the tarsal and toed flesh are red
It is raised as an ornamental bird in many countries around the world, introduced to China in the 1950s, and is also found in Myanmar, India, Cambodia and Southeast Asia.
Zebra finches have a habit of resting in their nests at night. The bird camp nests in a tree burrow. In dense artemisia grass or bushes, zebra finch uses slender grass stems and leaves, grass roots, etc. to create a loose spherical nest with openings facing the sides, and the nest is lined with feathers, soft tidbits and thinner grass stems. Zebra finches in the wild, good at using natural caves, or other cave nesting birds abandoned cave nests, nesting when the male and female birds work together to complete, the general male birds look for suitable nest materials, to the cave, the female birds in the cave to build a complete nest blank, and then gradually implanted fine grass, feathers, fibers and other nest materials, especially love to use grass soft tidbits or fruit spike nests. During spawning, incubation and brooding, the male still has to tie a delicate nest material for the female to repair the nest.
Zebra finches adapt to the arid environment of desert and semi-desert areas, and their breeding and hatching behavior depends on scarce and irregular rain; adult zebra finches can usually breed all year round, and after male and female pairing, the parent birds begin to bite the nest material, and after 4 to 5 days, they begin to lay 1 egg per day, generally 4 to 6 eggs per clutch.