To show the world what a Bat could do,

By soaring off on a lofty flight,

In the open day, by the sun's clear light!

He quite forgot that he had for wings

But a pair of monstrous, plumeless things;

That, more than half like a fish's fin,

With a warp of bone, and a woof of skin,

Were only fit in the dark to fly,

In view of a bat's or an owlet's eye.

He sallied forth from his hidden hole,