Whistle [OEngl. hwistle] (Fr.: sifflet; Ger.: Pfeife, Signalpfeife; Sp.: silbato), short *end-blown flute in which the air stream is directed through a flue against the sharp edge of a lateral aperture, devoid of fingerholes and sometimes containing a captive pellet. The lower end is stopped and the instr. yields only one tone. In older Engl. literature it is usually designated as a decoy pipe, and the word is used in that sense from ca. 1400 on. Prehistoric gourd whistles have been excavated…