SNOWBALL 



5422 



SNOWPLOW 



mountains of the cool temperate regions, such 

 as the Alps and the Rocky Mountains. These 

 heavy snowfalls have always been a grave dan- 

 ger to travelers through the mountain passes, 

 and in Europe houses of refuge are maintained 

 for the sake of protecting them. The most fa- 

 mous one is. that in the Alps at the Saint Ber- 

 nard Pass. Even twentieth-century travelers, 

 on swift and luxurious trains, are endangered 

 by the winter snows, the snowslides and the 

 avalanches which occur in mountainous regions. 

 The melting of the snow on mountains supplies 

 water for streams and rivers. A.C. 



Related Subjects. The following articles in 

 these volumes will be of interest in this connec- 

 tion : 



Avalanche 

 Crystallization 

 Freezing 

 Glacier 



Ice 



Snow Line 



Snowplow 



Snowshoe 



SNOWBALL, or GUELDER-ROSE, gel' der, 

 a handsome, flowering shrub that is often seen 

 in parks and on lawns. It is a cultivated form 

 of high-bush cranberry and grows from seven 

 to twelve feet high. The first and more com- 

 mon nam,e refers to the large, ball-like, white 

 flowers, which grow in great profusion. The 

 term guelder-rose is derived from the name of 

 the Dutch province of Guelderland, where the 

 plant is supposed to have originated. The 

 flowers of. the cultivated plant are all sterile, 

 that is, do not produce fruit, but there is a 

 wild guelder-rose that bears juicy, red berries. 



SNOWBIRD. See JUNCO. 



SNOW BUNT 'ING or SNOW FLAKE, a 

 sparrowlike bird which may be distinguished 

 from all others by the large amount of white in 

 its plumage. Not only on its body, but on its 

 wings and tail as well, white predominates.. Ex- 

 cept in unusually cold winters, when the snow- 

 fall is very heavy, these birds do not venture 

 as far south as the Northern United States, but 

 in Canada they are among the most familiar of 

 winter visitors. Their summers are spent in the 

 Arctic regions. Ernest Thompson Seton says of 

 this bird : 



In midwinter, in the far north, when the ther- 

 mometer showed thirty degrees below zero and 

 the chill blizzard was blowing on the plains, I 

 have seen this brave little bird gleefully chasing 

 his fellows, and pouring out as he flew his sweet, 

 voluble song with as much spirit as ever skylark 

 has in the sunniest days of June. 



SNOWDROP, a group of flowering plants 

 of the amaryllis family, so named because they 

 bear delicate white blossoms that seem to be 

 made out of snow. The common snowdrop of 



the gardens is one of the hardiest of the out-of- 

 door plants, for it has been known to bloom in 

 mid-winter in localities where a warm spell has 

 caused the sur- 

 f ace of the 

 ground to thaw. 

 The snowdrop 

 grows from a 

 small, bulbous 

 root, from which 

 spring two or 

 three narrow 

 green leaves and 

 a leafless flower 

 stalk. The nod- 

 ding, bell-shaped 

 flowers grow sin- 

 gly at the top of 

 the stalk, and 

 usually come into 

 blossom in north- 

 ern climes in 

 March or April. 

 The plant is 

 easily cultivated, 

 for the bulbs can 

 be planted in a 

 sheltered place 

 and be left to 

 themselves. The 

 snowdrop needs 



little attention Snowdrops that plead for par- 

 don. SWINBURNE. 

 In England the 



peasants call it the Fair Maid of February. 

 See AMARYLLIS FAMILY. 



SNOW LEOPARD, another name for the 

 ounce (which see). 



SNOW LINE. Even in the torrid zone 

 mountains rise into air that is so cold that 

 snow lies on their upper slopes all the year. 

 The lower edge of these permanent snow fields, 

 in whatever country or zone, is called the snow 

 line. It is about three miles above sea level 

 in the tropics, approximately two miles above 

 the sea in latitude 40, and about a mile above 

 sea level in latitude 55 or 60 north or south. 

 It descends to sea level in the frigid zone, 

 where permanent snow may be found even on 

 the lowlands. 



Related Subjects. The reader is referred to 

 the following articles in these volumes : 

 Climate Mountain 



Irrigation Snow 



SNOWPLOW, a machine for clearing the 

 snow from railways and roads. In the United 

 States and Canada, where the snowdrifts are 



