 Little is known about the behaviour of the Rodrigues starling , apart from Tafforet 's description , from which various inferences can be made . The robustness of its limbs and the strong jaws with the ability to gape indicates that it foraged on the ground . Its diet may have consisted of the various snails and invertebrates of Rodrigues , as well as scavenged items . Rodrigues had large colonies of seabirds and now @-@ extinct Cylindraspis land tortoises , as well as marine turtles , which would have provided a large amount of food for the starling , particularly during the breeding seasons . Tafforet reported that the pigeons and parrots on the offshore southern islets only came to the mainland to drink water , and Leguat noted that the pigeons only bred on the islets due to persecution from rats on the mainland ; the starling may have also done this . Originally , the Rodrigues starling may have been widely distributed on Rodrigues , with seasonal visits to the islets . Tafforet 's description also indicates that it had a complex song . 
