An interesting colourful, energetic small waxbill. I have seen many references to the hens being supposedly slightly duller and lacking the salmon vent colouring. Whilst this may be true in certain cases I have seen too much variation even in the same clutch of chicks to regard this as an even slightly accurate method of sexing. In fact if I applied this to the birds in our aviaries all the cocks could be considered hens and vice versa. They will also sing a little but this song is very weak and somewhat disjointed, nowhere near the pure and melodious song of a cock.
Breeding can occur at any time of year but is usually in spring when it is starting to get warmer.
The usual preference for nesting sites seems to be below one metre high, and nests are usually of their own construction hidden in gorse or conifer branches. The hens will mainly incubate for between 12 and 14 days with the cock taking his turn sitting the eggs in the daytime only, the hen sleeps on the nest at night-time. They aren t a nest roosting species but will sleep in the nest after the chicks have fledged, mainly as a way of getting the chicks back to the safety of the nest. The chicks will return at night to roost in their nest for up to two weeks with 10 days or less being average. Our birds seem to appear around the eighteenth day.