One day a small bird beat the air with its little wings, under the roof of the promenade, and then flittered from sight over the surface, of the waste; a school of porpoises, stiff and wooden in their rise, plunged clumsily from wave to wave.
"Their Silver Wedding Journey"
William Dean Howells
Again the lightning flashed, showing the faces and staring eyes of the thousands who watched, and even the white teeth of a great bat that flittered past.
"Allan and the Holy Flower"
H. Rider Haggard
A bat's wing had flittered past his nose so close that he might have caught it in his teeth if he had wanted to-and been quick enough.
"Children of the Wild"
Charles G. D. Roberts