The basis of this "ballad" is The Gypsy Laddies (Child 200).

Doing a quick search just now, I ran across this bit of information:

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The Whistling Gypsy, sometimes known simply as The Gypsy Rover, is a well-known ballad copyrighted by Dublin songwriter, Leo Maguire in about 1950 . Though often alleged to be an imitation of folk song, notably of "The Raggle Taggle Gypsy," versions of this variant that are nearly identical to Maguire's supposed composition appeared in print in 1919, 1927, 1935, and 1937. [1] Dorothy Scarborough's 1937 book A Song Catcher In Southern Mountains: American Folk Songs of British Ancestry includes a version that includes most of the same words that Maguire claimed to have written, including the "ah-dee-do" chorus that appears only in this version of the gypsy/lady tale.[2]

Perhaps some erudite Mudcatter who is familiar with this work can enlighten us further - Tom