 Common starlings may be kept as pets or as laboratory animals . Austrian <unk> 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 <unk> . Several birds may be kept in the same cage , and their <unk> makes them easy to train or study . The only disadvantages are their <unk> 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 <unk> . 
