16 The Wine-Dark Sea - Libro della tutto

Patrick O'Brian The Wine-Dark Sea
among the clumps of spiny ichu grass.
When first they had seen it from above, at
some distance, the lake was clearly full of
wildfowl – rafts of duck, geese at the far end
where a stream from the northern glacier
came in, and gulls over all – but by the time
they had made their way through to a sheltered
point near the open water that allowed
them a clear view although they remained unseen,
they found that there were also remarkable
numbers of rails, waders and the smaller
herons.
'What wealth!' they cried, and began a first
eager census of genera at least before the
identification or attempted identification of
species. Presently they grew calmer, leaving
the fine-work until they could obtain specimens,
and they sat at their ease, gazing over
the water at a distant crowd of flamingoes,
gabbling steadily in their goose-like manner.