lonely finch

Question
QUESTION: Hi there. my fiance reciently got us two spice finches. i
was told that one was a male and one a female. the one with
spots was supposed to be the male. I started noticing that
the "female" was starting to lose the feathers on her neck.
about a week later "she" died. I was wanting another one for
"him" but i don't know if he's really a male and if i can
even add one to his cage. Also i wanted to know if i could
add an owl finch or a gouldian to his cage. Thank you!

ANSWER: I would not add another bird to your cage until you are sure of it's sex and the cause of death for the other finch. Also, spice finches have a slightly aggressive personality by nature whereas both Gouldians and Owls are passive.I would get another spice finch for him.

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: How can you tell the sex of a spice finch?

Answer
The only sure way is to get it DNAed but you can guess from the feathers surrounding the vent. By blowing on the bird's vent and looking at the position of the feathers you can tell. Males will have long "feeler" feathers whereas females will have bare stomachs.