Pewit, or Larus ridibundas, L. a bird of passage, frequenting the British shores, the fens of Lincolnshire, Cambridgeshire, etc. but, after the breeding season, retiring to the sea-coasts.

Formerly, pewits were more, esteemed than at present, and numbers were annually fattened to supply the table.—They construct their nests on the ground, of rushes, dead grass, etc. in which the fe-' male deposits three greenish-brown eggs, marked with red-brown spots.—The young of these birds, called red-legs, are caught in the vicinity of the Thames, and much relished on account of their palatable flesh.