midday
Hemlock , Pine , Birch and Elm of the largest size abounded and spread over the clear brook a continuous shade . Fox vines trailed in the open places , the rarest wild-flowers flourished , Red-squirrels chattered from the trees . In the mud along the brook-side were tracks of Coon and Mink and other strange fourfoots . And in the trees overhead , the Veery , the Hermit-thrush , or even a Woodthrush sang his sweetly solemn strain , in that golden twilight of the midday forest . Yan did not know them all by name as yet , but he felt their vague charm and mystery . It seemed such a far and lonely place , so unspoiled by man , that Yan persuaded himself that surely he was the first human being to stand there , that it was his by right of discovery , and so he claimed it and named it after its discoverer -- Glenyan . This place became the central thought in his life .