Love
In the Amsterdam Zoo there was a pair of bitterns, whose male had 'fallen in love' with the director of the Zoo. So as not to hinder their mating, the latter did not appear for a considerable length of time. The result was that the male became accustomed to the female. A happy union ensued, and when the female was sitting on her eggs, the director risked showing himself again. But what happened? No sooner had the male caught sight of his former love companion, than he chased the female away from the nest and seemed to hint with repeated bows that the director was to occupy the place due him and continue the business of brooding.1
Footnotes
Uexküll, Jakob von. A Foray into the Worlds of Animals and Humans: With a Theory of Meaning. Translated by Joseph D. O’Neil. 1934. Reprint, Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2010, 372˄
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