"In the evening I fully expected it to fly away but the next morning it was just lying at the bottom of the box. I attached it to the
cord where it once again seemed content, and went to consult the chapter on bats in my encyclopaedia. There to my
astonishment I learned that bats are not able to take off from the ground like birds, but need to free-fall a little in order to
reach flying speed. Armed with this revelation, I hurled my new friend into the air as high as I could. It plummeted a little,
executed a starboard roll, successfully applied a touch of rudder, pulled back hard out of a dive and fluttered off to be
probably the only bat flying around at mid-day."
