FYI
Whistles

It wasn’t designed to pound an object, chop wood or slice through multiple layers, but a whistle — in its earliest and varied forms — was one of the most useful ancient tools. It is still utilized today for many purposes!
The sound produced from this simple instrument could serve as a warning, a command, a signal, an alert, or for basic pleasure and entertainment through the melodies expertly coaxed from its specific construction.   Whistles and whistling have been featured in all modern forms of music including orchestral, jazz, rock, folk, pop, country, blues and hip hop. Walt Disney had us whistling while we worked and advised to “give a little whistle” if we got in trouble. Duke Ellington, Glenn Miller, and Ella Fitzgerald all performed the song “Five O'clock Whistle.”
Acorns, gourds, branches, small shells, and bones were among some of the first materials used to create the whistle. However, one of the earliest and most durable materials used to mold these noise makers was clay. Historians believe that the Chinese were the first people to use it to create the predecessor of the modern-day whistle.   
In the mid-19th century, tin became the popular medium to produce a more distinct sound. Tin whistles became popular with law enforcement, the Navy, and in sporting events by officials. And ironically “tin whistles” today are made from brass, nickel-plated brass or some other form of sheet metal. It wasn’t until a little over a century later that plastics took center stage and were used by many businesses as clever advertising tools for their companies including many shoe stores which catered to children, as well as the food industry, most notably Oscar Mayer.   
The clay variety, however, was considered quite special and the substance of choice for many people. One early example was the Aztecs. They reportedly believed that whistles made from clay represented the “singing mother earth”, and they played the “dead whistle” in ceremonies where chiefs and other cherished leaders died. In the 1900s Russian children often received clay whistles as toys.   

This yellowware bird whistle, with a Rockingham glaze, is attributed to John Henderson, whose pottery operated between 1847 and 1857. It is exhibited in the Rockingham gallery of the Museum of Ceramics. Whether it was intended to be a treasured toy for a child during the mid-19th century in East Liverpool, or as a fancy mantle decoration, one thing is crystal clear. It still works!