A prime candidate for some fakelore. You know--English archers used yew bows and arrows fletched with grey goose feathers. Or the dispersed Irish troops were referred to as Wild Geese. Or other irrelevancies.

In defense of the Traditional Ballad Index, the compilers aren't seeking the earliest version extant of each song: they're l;isting references in the books they've examined. If the next book to be examined has an earlier reference, they'll update their earliest date.