Hast thou named all the birds without a gun?
Loved the wood-rose and left it on its stalk?
At rich men’s tables eaten bread and pulse?
Unarmed, faced danger with a heart of trust?
And loved so well a high behavior,
In man or maid, that thou from speech refrained,
Nobility more nobly to repay?
O, be my friend, and teach me to be thine![[8]]
The name of columbine is derived from colomba—a dove, but its significance is disputed. Some believe that it was associated with the bird-like claws of the blossom; while Dr. Prior maintains that it refers to the “resemblance of its nectaries to the heads of pigeons in a ring around a dish, a favorite device of ancient artists.”
The meaning of the generic title is also doubtful. Gray derives it from aquilegus—water-drawing, but gives no further explanation, while other writers claim that it is from aquila, an eagle, seeing a likeness to the talons of an eagle in the curved nectaries.