 Common starlings may be kept as pets or as laboratory animals . Austrian ethologist Konrad Lorenz wrote of them in his book King Solomon 's Ring as " the poor man 's dog " and " something to love " , because nestlings are easily obtained from the wild and after careful hand rearing they are straightforward to look after . They adapt well to captivity , and thrive on a diet of standard bird feed and mealworms . Several birds may be kept in the same cage , and their inquisitiveness makes them easy to train or study . The only disadvantages are their messy and indiscriminate defecation habits and the need to take precautions against diseases that may be transmitted to humans . As a laboratory bird , the common starling is second in numbers only to the domestic pigeon . 
 Common starlings may be kept as pets or as laboratory animals . Austrian ethologist Konrad Lorenz wrote of them in his book King Solomon <a href='null_genetive' title='1'><mark>'s</mark></a>Ring as " the poor man <a href='null_genetive' title='2'><mark>'s</mark></a>dog " and " something to love " , because nestlings are easily obtained from the wild and after careful hand rearing they <a href='drop_aux' title='3'><mark>are</mark></a>straightforward to look after . They adapt well to captivity , and thrive on a diet of standard bird feed and mealworms . Several birds may be kept in the same cage , and their inquisitiveness <a href='uninflect' title='4'><mark>makes</mark></a> them easy to train or study . The only disadvantages <a href='drop_aux' title='5'><mark>are</mark></a>their messy and indiscriminate defecation habits and the need to take precautions against diseases <a href='null_relcl' title='6'><mark>that</mark></a>may be transmitted to humans . As a laboratory bird , the common starling <a href='drop_aux' title='7'><mark>is</mark></a>second in numbers only to the domestic pigeon . 
Common starlings may be kept as pets or as laboratory animals . Austrian ethologist Konrad Lorenz wrote of them in his book King Solomon  Ring as " the poor man  dog " and " something to luhhh " , b/c nestlings r easily obtained from da wild and after careful hand rearing they straightforward to look after . They adapt well to captivity , and thrive on a diet of standard bird feed and mealworms . Several birds may be kept in tdasame cage , and their inquisitiveness make them easy to train or study . The only disadvantages their messy and indiscriminate defecation habits and thdaotta take precautions against diseases may be transmitted to humans . As a laboratory bird , the common starling second in numbers only to the domestic pigeon .