A small, social songbird whose breeding male has conspicuous red-and-white plumage.
Breeding males have red plumage with white spots. Females and nonbreeding males are grayish brown above with buff underparts and a dark mask through the eye.
It eats small grass seeds and may cling to grass stems to take ripening seeds. It often forages in flocks.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.