Should I include or skip "on it"

Question

Which is right?

1. A black bird with a small white patch eats to its fill the fishes in t he pond.
2. A black bird with a small white patch on it eats to its fill the fishes in the pond.

I kind of think, "on it" is implied and can be skipped. My friend says, it cannot be skipped.

Answer 1

The "on it" is not necessary here. When you stated "...with a small white patch..." this was already in reference to the bird, as a descriptive pretense, so where else would the patch be, other than on the bird? Does that make sense? It would be redundant.

The sentence also needs commas, so that a reader knows which word groupings go together. So perhaps:

A black bird, with a small white patch, eats to its fill , the fishes in the pond. OR A black bird...... eats to its fill of the fishes in the pond.

A comma OR a word like "of", "from", or "on" will work instead of the last comma. I hope this helps.

Here is a link to a couple sites that might be of help to you:

1. https://www.csun.edu/~sk36711/WWW/KAG/ch5.html
2. https://app.grammarly.com/

Answer 2

You can skip it. Yes, it is implied.

The white patch has to be on the bird.

The second part of the sentence is a bit awkward though:

A black bird with a small white patch eats to its fill the fishes in the pond.

Try:

A black bird with a small white patch eats its fill of the fishes in the pond.

I like this one, but don't try it at home:

A ravenous black bird gulps the innocent fishes of the pond.