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DESCRIPTION 6 inches (15cm). Greenish-grey head, neck, upperbody, wing coverts, small flight feathers and uppertail coverts. Red flight feathers with black and yellow bands, yellow throat blending to orange chest, black top of tail, beige stripe by eye. Eyes brown, beak red with black, legs brownish. Female's head is duller. Fledging young approximately one-third larger than parents because they carry extra fat until become more active. Immatures have pinkish-red bill and more grey and black in plumage, achieve colouring by 70 or 80 days.
NATURAL DISTRIBUTION The Pekin Robin is from south Himalayas across northern Indo-China and China.
HABITAT Heavily wooded areas, starting at 19,685 feet (6,000m) above sea level, most abundant below 6,560 feet (2,000m), usually in groups, in pairs during breeding period.
DIET The Pekin Robin likes mealworm, ant pupae, millet, canary-grass seed, maw seed, hemp, chopped boiled egg, berries, banana slices, chopped apple or pear, soaked raisins, soaked stale bread and grit, lettuce, spinach, chickweed.
SPECIAL NEEDS Keeping more than one pair in cage or aviary leads to fighting. Feeding mealworms during nesting and breeding may result in birds' throwing their eggs or young out of the nest and starting again.
CAGE LIFE Strong, lively, beautiful song accompanied in male by wing-flapping display. Can be kept with seed-eaters, but may plunder nests. Male and female act very 'lovingly' towards each other. When excited, male repeats 'tern call almost constantly, and female has softer call. Cage 30 X 18 X 25 V? inches (75 X 45 X 65cm). Use canary 'baskets', placed in half-open nest boxes, or build cup-shaped nest of straw, bark, moss, thin roots and twigs. Nest box should be hung in secluded location. Need daily access to bathing water warmed to room temperature. May remain outside in winter if heat-able night shelter keeps them wind- and rain-free. Breed April to June. Lay 3 to 5 pale green-white eggs with markings at blunt end, incubation 13 to 14 days, fledging 11 to 13 days, fed by parents for some time.
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