BRITISH BIRDS. 
227 
nor the Pewit, and it could not be a young bird, as 
it was killed in June, and the ovary contained eggs.’^ 
This reafoning does not appear decifive ; the bird 
might be old enough to breed, although not in per- 
fefl: plumage, to which fome fpecies do not attain in 
lefs than two or three years: therefore, whether 
it really was the young of the Black-headed Gull, 
or a diflinft fpecies, remains to be determined by 
further inveftigation. 
The male of the Brown-headed Gull is by fome 
ornithologifts called the Kittiwake (the Lams Rijfa 
of Linnaeus) ; but as there is no end of the con- 
jeftures, opinions, and doubts refpefting many of 
the Gulls, which, from the flighteft differences of 
plumage, have, in fome inllances, been branched 
out into new varieties, in this work the defcriptions 
of others have been given in preference to making 
alterations, when the author could not with certain?* 
ty throw any new light upon the fubjed:. 
Ff 2 
i 
