Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 18.djvu/330

SNARE-DRUM. 278 SNIPEFISH. hollow body made of brass, over both ends of which a membrane is stretched which can be tightened or loosened. Across the lower mem- brane are stretched several strings of cat-gut, which vibrate and act upon the lower membrane very much like drum-sticks. Thus a bright, piercing sound is produced. See Drum. SNEEK, snak. A town in the Province of Friesland. the Xetherhinds, to the west of the 8neekermeer and 24 miles southwest of Leeuwar- deu (Map: Netherlands, D 1). There are a gym- nasium, an industrial institute, and some metal manufactures. It is the chief trading centre of the province for dairy products. Population, in 1900, 12.075. SNEERWELL, Ladt. A beautiful widow in .Sherid'an's School for Scandal, a member of the Scandal Club, and an adept in slander. SNEEUWBERGEN, snaOjer-gen. A range of mountains in South Africa. See Cape Colony. SNEEZEWORT. An lurb. See Achillea. SNEF'RU, or SNOF'RTI. The name of the first king of the Fourth Egyptian Dynasty. He reigned about B.C. 3000, and was the immediate predecessor of Cheops ( q.v. ) . Snefru opened mines for copper and malachite at Wadi Mag- hara in the Sinaitic Peninsula, and on a rock tablet at this place the King is depicted in the act of slaying an enemy. Later accounts state that he defended Egjpt from an invasion of Asiatic tribes. The tomb of Snefru is the so- called step-pyramid of Medum (q.v.). Consult: Wiedemann, Aegyptische Geschichte (Giotha, 1884-88) ; Meyer, Oeschichte des nlten Aegyptens (Berlin, 1887) ; Petrie, A Histoi-y of Egypt (Mew York, 1897) ; Budge, A History of Egypt (ib., 1902). SNEILffiTTEN, sna'hat'cn (Norw., snow cap). The highest peak of the Dovrcfjeld in Norwa.y, 80 miles southwest of Trondhjem (Map:' Norway, C 5). Its altitude is 7.566 feet. SNEL'LIUS, WiLLEBRORD (1591-1026). A Dutch mathematician and astronomer. He w'as born and educated at Leyden and succeeded his father as professor of mathematics there. Snel- lius discovered the law of refraction of light (1619), and the properties of polar spherical triangles, and gave a scientifie method for meas- uring the arc of a meridian. His chief works are: Eratosthenes Batavus (1017); Cyclometrica ( 1(121). SNI'DER, .lAcoft (?-1866). An American in- ventor. He conducted a wine business in Phila- delphia, Pa., where he devoted much attention to inventions connected with dyeing and brew'ing, and subsequently with the coach-wheel and the sheathing of ships. In 1859 he went to England, where lie endeavored to secure the adoption by the British Government of a system of breech- loading or converting rilles. But although he succeeded in securing its introduction he was un- able to obtain adequate remuneration, and died without having received the reward of his labors. SNIPE (Icel. snipa. OHG. siiepho, snepfo, Ger. Schnepfe, snipe; probably connected with Eng. snip. snap). A small limicoline marsh-bird of the family Scolopacidfe and genus Gallinago. hav- ing a very long, straight bill, Avith nasal grooves extending almost to the tip. which expands a little and is soft and very .sensitive, smooth, and shin- ing in llie living bird, but soon after death becomes pitted like the en<l of a thimble by drying. The tip of the bill is filled with the ter- minals of the nerve-fibres (for which consult Yar- rell, British Birds, 4th ed., London, 1884), enabling the bird to detect by touch, as well as by odor, the hidden worms, and the like, upon which it feeds, and which it obtains by probing mud and soft soil with its bill. The head is compressed; the eyes are large and placed far back in the head. The feet have three toes be- fore, divided to the base or very nearly so, not edged by membrane; the hind toe is short. The tail is short and contains 14 to 16 feathers. The common snipe of Europe {Gallinago gal- linago) is about 11 inches in entire length, the bill almost 3 inches. The sexes are alike in plumage, but the fenuile is rather larger than the male. The general color of the upper parts is blackish brown, finely mixed with pale bro^n and buif: three pale brown streaks along the head are characteristic of the whole genus. The neck and breast are pale rust color mottled with black; the belly is white. It makes a rude nest of a little dry lierbage in a depression of the ground, or sometimes in a tuft of grass or rushes. The eggs are four in niuuber, pale yellowish or greenish white, the larger end spotted with brown. The snipe is everywhere in high esteem for the table. North America has but a single species of Gallinago. The conunon American or Wilson's .snipe (Gallinago dclicata) is about equal in size to the common snipe of Europe, and much resembles it also in plumage. This species is abundant in summer in northern parts of the United States and in Canada, in the more south- ern States in winter. The peculiar cry of this bird, "scape-scape,' and its twisting motion in flight are highly characteristic; and in spring it circles about in the air near its nest with a <iueer zigzag flight, uttering a curious drumming or 'bleating' noise. This noise seems produced by means of the vibration of the peculiarly modi- fied outer tail-quills. Consult general ornitholo- gies and books on shooting, and Selous, Bird Watching (London. 1900). See Colored Plate of Shobe Birds, and Colored Plate of Game Birds, with article C4R0USE. SNIPE-EEL (so called from the long jaws). One of a group of little-known, extremely slender eels forming the family Nemiehtliidie, in which the jaws are excessively prolonged and almost needle-like, the upper the longer and somewhat recurved. Many of them live in the ocean depths, the one illustrated on the Plate of Eels, Congers. . d Morays (see Eel) belonging to the Gulf Stream. The best-known species is Xcmirhlhi/s scnlopacrns, common in rather deep water in the North Atlantic. SNIPEFISH (so called from the long snout). A fish of the related hemibranch families Fistu- lariidiB and JlacrorhamphosidiP. allied to the pipefish and variously known as 'trumpet-fish,' 'bellows-fish,' 'tluteniouth,' etc. Specifically the term usualty refers to a small species of the southern European coast, occasionally straying (o America {Macrorhamphns scolopax) , remark- able for the conformation of the head, the skull being elongated into a tube, at the extremity of which are the mouth and jaws. Some related species of tropical waters become from four to six feet in length.