BRANT, brant, or BRANDT, Sebastian, German poet and satirist: b. Stcassburg 1457; d. there, 10 May 1521. He studied law at Basel, took the doctor's degree and delivered lectures 'on jurisprudence for !natty years. In 1501 he was state councillor at Strassburg and state recorder in 1503. Some of his writings brought him to the notice of Emperor Maximilian, who entrusted him with several important commis sions in the interests of the state. He trans lated Virgil, Terence and other Latin writers, and wrote a number of law treatises as well as poetry, in both German and Latin. In 'The :Ship of Fools' (Was Narrenschiff'), first pub lished in Basel 1494, he satirizes the vices and 'follies of his age. It became immediately pop ular; four editions appeared in one year and It was translated into Low German, Latin, French and English. In Germany it was so esteemed that the celebrated preacher, Geller of Kaisersburg, delivered public lectures on it frown the pulpit at Strassburg. Later editions have been printed, of which the best are by Zane:ice (1854) and by Goedecke (1872). Its influence was never considerable on the litera ture of Germany and of other Germanic coun tries. Itlhe English translations are by Alexan der Barcllay (1509) and by Henry Watson, the latter 'reprinted in 1874.
a small wild goose of the genus Branta. The most familiar species, the '
chief food consisting of the "eel-grassy for which they dive at low tide. The brant is chiefly a marine bird, rarely seen in the interior of the United States, and breeds in the far North, well within the Arctic Circle. Its nest is made on the ground from grass, mosses, etc., and its four eggs are dirty white in color. The name is sometimes given to other species of Foose, as, for instance, the °snow goose* which is sometimes termed "white brant" because of its similarity in size. See GEESE.
or common names among American gunners for the (Strepsilas interpres), called uturnstone" by British sportsmen and in most books, because of its habit of moving aside pebbles in order to get at the beach-fleas and other small creatures hiding beneath them, upon which it feeds. It also feeds upon the eggs of the "horsefoot," or king crab, which it scratches out of the sand; hence it is known to some as "horsefoot snipe.b It stands between the ers and sandpipers, having a comparatively short bill and legs and less active manners than most • of the latter. It is, perhaps, the most beautiful of the beach-birds, having a highly variegated plumage much alike in both sexes. The bill is black, feet orange; head and sides of neck black and white with a black band across the breast; throat, lower parts and tail coverts, white; remainder of the plumage chest nut and brown, mottled with black and set off by a white band on the wing. This is one of the most cosmopolitan of birds, wandering to all parts of the world, yet nowhere, perhaps, numerous.