Researchers in the southern Chinese territory found the genetic makeup of the H5N1 virus in the dead magpie robin matched that of a strain that has killed mainland chickens.

"The H5N1 genotype (in the Hong Kong bird) has been found before, not in Hong Kong but in poultry in other regions of China," University of Hong Kong microbiologist Guan Yi was quoted as telling the South China Morning Post English-language daily.

The report said researchers believed the robin had picked up the disease after mingling with mainland poultry flocks -- a theory on a means of virus transmission that is finding increasing support among experts.

Guan told the paper the strain was not the dominant one that has been found in mainland China, Indonesia, Japan and South Korea.

The World Health Organisation has warned that a bird flu pandemic could kill millions of people worldwide.

Hong Kong has been at the forefront of research into the disease since the first reports of the virus mutating into a form lethal to humans in 1997, when it killed six people in the former British colony.

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