_Mother Carey's Chickens_ (Vol. v., p. 344.).--Navigators meet with the Little Petrel, Storm Finch, or Stormy Petrel, the _Procellaria pellagica_ of Linnæus, in every part of the ocean, diving, running on foot, or skimming over the highest waves with the greatest ease. It seems to foresee the coming storm long ere the seamen can discover any signs of its approach; and they make this known by congregating together under the wake of the vessel, as if to shelter themselves from it, and they thus warn the mariner to guard against the coming danger. At night they set up a piercing cry. This usefulness to the sailor is the obvious cause of the latter having such an objection to their being killed. I am unable to say who Mother Carey was; but I might venture a conjecture why the bird who guards the seaman with such _care_ bears its familiar name. UNICORN. The name of "Mother Carey's Chickens" is said to have been originally bestowed upon Stormy Petrels by Captain Carteret's sailors, probably from some celebrated ideal hag of that name. As these birds are supposed to be seen only before stormy weather, they are not welcome visitors. WM. YARRELL. _Burnomania_ (Vol. v., p. 127.).--Your correspondent ELGINENSIS has got the "Burnomania" of Dr. William Peebles, the minister of Newton-upon-Ayr, himself one of the minor poets of Scotland by virtue of his _Crisis, or the Progress of Revolutionary Principles_, Edinburgh, 1803 and 1804; and _Poems, consisting of Odes and Elegies_, Glasgow, 1810; all in my collection. Like the transcendent powers of a living vocalist, the genius of Burns could brook no rival, and for a long period, notwithstanding the futile attempts of the smaller poetical _fry_ to arrest its progress by their Lilliputian shafts, the "Ayrshire Ploughman" maintained a species of monopoly of the public mind and attention. Dr. Peebles, as a candidate for poetical fame, no doubt found this "Burnomania" sufficiently annoying; he therefore put forth his puny arm, in the publication alluded to by ELGINENSIS, to stem it, and, considering that the poetry of Burns was then in the zenith of its popularity, we need not add that the worthy Doctor's work proved but a _turf_ to the _cataract_, and is only now known as a curiosity. I may however notice, that Dr. Peebles had a deeper _grudge_ than rivalry to settle with Burns, the satirical poet having aimed at him in the "Holy Fair" and the "Kirk's Alarm;" and should your correspondent seek to know more of the author of his book, he will find him noticed in Paterson's _Contemporaries of Burns_, Edinburgh, 1830.