Gabhairin Reo Poem by Francis Duggan

Gabhairin Reo old Irish name for male snipe
A songless bird one of the silent type
A long billed bird that dwell in places poor
Rushy wet meadow and the marshy moor.

But Gabhairin reo make strange sound with his wings
Above the marshy moorland in the Spring
When darkness fall above the moor he fly
And with his wings he makes a goat like cry.

From an Irish-English dictionary I quote
The Irish word 'An Gabhar' means a goat
The old Irish named him Gabhairin from the sound
That he makes with flapping wings o'er marshy ground.

And I have heard a Nature lover say
That this is gabhairin reo's courtship display
That he fly across the sky when darkness fall
And with his wings make goat like courtship call.

Next time you walk down bog road on Spring night
And goat like bleats disturb the peace and quiet
'Tis not a goat you hear though it sound so
But male snipe known to some as gabhairin reo.