in Thoreau’s Journal:

9 Am. to Atkin’s Boat House– (No sun till setting) Another still moist overcast day–-without sun but all day a crescent of light as if breaking away in the north. The waters smooth & full of reflections– A still cloudy day like this is perhaps the best to be on the water–- To the clouds perhaps we owe both the stillness & the reflections–for the light is in a great measure reflected from the water.

Robins sing now at 10 Am as in the morning–& the Phoebe–& pig– woodpecker’s cackle is heard–& many martins (with white-bellied swallows) are & twittering skimming above the water–perhaps catching the small fuzzy gnats with which the air is filled. The sound of church bells, at various distances–in Concord & the neighboring towns, sounds very sweet to us on the water–this still day– It is the song of the villages heard with the song of the birds. The great meadows are covered, except a small island in their midst….