walcott] 
BRITISH ORNITHOLOGY 
607 
of Mr. Parkinson and Mr. Latham. . . . He has also to con- 
fess, that the descriptions of such birds as were drawn in the 
above-mentioned Museums, were taken from Mr. Latham’s 
valuable work, The General Synopsis of Birds. ... A very 
few plates, marked with an asterisk, were copied from Brisson 
and others.” 
Coues states, on the authority of Newton, that “ The story 
has always gone that Walcott, being dissatisfied with the 
book, had nearly the whole impression destroyed ; but copies 
do not seem to be rare.” The sequence of the species appears 
to be nearly that of the Linnaean Systema Naturae , beginning 
with Vultur and ending with Caprimulgus. 
Walcott is generally credited with the first British record 
of the Crested- tit, which bird he figures, and states that it had 
lately been observed in Scotland. 
1789. Synopsis | of | British Birds. | By John Walcott, Esq. | The Works 
of the Lord are great : | Sought out of all them that have Pleasure 
therein. | Psalms, cxi. 2. | London : | Printed by W. Justins, 
Shoemaker Kow, Blackfriars, | Eor the Author : | And sold by 
Mess. White and Son, Fleet Street ; | Bobson and Clarke, New- 
Bond Street ; | And J. Mathews, Strand. | m,dcc,lxxxix. 
Collation — 2 vols. 4to, not paged, 255 pi. (published also with 
coloured plates). 
Note. — The work is very rare with the plates coloured ; one 
such, Walcott’s own copy, is in the W.P.L. The plates were 
engraved on copper by P. Mazell, and occupy the upper half of 
each page, with the text below, and the reverse blank. A portrait 
of Walcott will be found on the frontispiece of his Flora 
Britannica. 
Walcott (Mackenzie Edward Charles), 1821-80 
Mackenzie Walcott, only son of Admiral John Walcott 
(oh. 1868 ), was born at Bath., December 15 , 1821 , and educated 
at Winchester and Exeter College, Oxford (M.A. 1847 , B.D. 
1866 ). He held many curacies, and was precentor of 
Chichester Cathedral from April 1863 to the time of his death. 
He was a voluminous author, and wrote much on churches, 
cathedrals, and ecclesiastical history ; he was also responsible 
