SNORING 



5421 



SNOW 



and then descending by one quick swoop after 

 another, with the air rushing through its wings. 

 Its summer range is from the Northern United 

 States to Hudson Bay and Labrador, and it 

 winters from Illinois and South Carolina south- 

 ward. Its nest is a depression in the ground 

 on the edge of marshes. The eggs are four in 

 number and their color is olive-brown or gray- 

 ish-drab, thickly spotted with chocolate. 



The European snipe is similar to the Wilson's 

 snipe except that it has a longer bill. The 

 Jacksnipe is a very small species of the far 

 northern sections of the Old World. South 

 America has several snipes, including the Giant 

 snipe of Brazil, a bird which grows to be nine- 

 teen inches long. 



SNORING, snohr'ing. One can best describe 

 the disagreeable noise made by a person who 

 snores by saying that it sounds much like the 

 word snore. The sounds are produced when 

 the sleeper has his mouth open, and when the 

 air, with every breath that is taken, gurgles 

 through the throat with a hoarse, rattling 

 noise. Some people snore simply from habit; 

 the mouth drops open mechanically after one 

 falls asleep. Certain mechanical devices for 

 keeping the mouth closed have been tried, but 

 without encouraging success. Some people ad- 

 vocate the use of a bandage, placed around the 

 head and tied under the chin. When snoring 

 is caused by nasal catarrh or throat trouble, as 

 is often the case, the only remedy is treatment 

 of the ailment. Children who snore should be 

 examined for nose or throat trouble. In their 

 case it is a danger signal that should not be 

 disregarded. See EDUCATION, subtitle Hygiene 

 of Education, especially the section on "Ade- 

 noids," page 1945. 



SNORRI STURLUSON, snor're stoor'looson 

 (1179-1241), one of the .earliest historians of 

 Iceland, famed as the author of the Prose Edda 

 (see EDDA) and of a series of biographies of old 

 Norwegian kings entitled Heimskringla. The 

 Prose Edda, completed in 1222, is one of the 

 first masterpieces of Scandinavian literature, 

 but was not published until the seventeenth 

 century. Snorri early became prominent as a 

 poet, lawyer and statesman, and in 1215 was 

 made president of the legislative assembly and 

 higher court of Iceland. In 1218 he visited 

 Norway on the invitation of King Haakon, and 

 when he returned home he became a vassal of 

 the Norwegian king and negotiated a peace 

 treaty between Iceland and Norway. After 

 many years he lost the confidence of Haakon, 

 and was put to death by the latter's order. 



SNOW, sno, crystals of ice formed when 

 cloud vapor is condensed at a point below 

 freezing (32 F.). These crystals do not al- 

 ways reach the earth in the form of snow, for 

 sometimes they are partially melted and reach 

 the earth as sleet, and sometimes they are en- 

 tirely melted and descend as rain. There are 

 millions of boys and girls in the world who 

 never saw a snowflake, for on over a third of 

 the earth's surface snow never falls. Even in 

 some portions of the United States there are 

 children who do not know what snow looks 

 like, who never see it 



Flying through the cloudy sea 

 Out of soft gray mystery, 

 Lightly, lightly resting, 

 On the old elm nesting, 

 Hanging from the hemlock there 

 Like a beard of silver hair, 

 Molding on the lilac-tree 

 Petals of white purity, 

 Changing to a lovely frieze 

 Ancient weeds forlorn and gray 

 Shivering along the way. 



Snowflakes are six-rayed ice crystals of dif- 

 ferent designs, some of which are shown in the 

 accompanying picture. It is interesting to col- 

 lect some of them on a black surface and to 

 study them under an ordinary magnifying glass. 



VARYING FORMS OF SNOWFLAKES 



The designs of the flakes vary greatly and are 

 marvelously beautiful. The amount of water 

 in snow is much less than in rain, a rainfall of 

 one inch being equal to a snowfall of about ten 

 inches. 



In polar regions and on the tops of high 

 mountains snow falls all the time, whereas in 

 temperate regions it falls during the winter 

 months. The heaviest snowfalls occur in the 



