Magical significance may well have been attached to a creature on a pot making a noise. Most widespread of the globular flutes are those with an airduct and stops. Zoomorphic examples are known from Mexico and Malaya but most are bird shaped. These are known in Java, Russia, Spain, Portugal, Yugoslavia, Sweden, Britain, Mexico and Guatemala, while a fine T'ang dynasty Chinese example can be seen in the Horniman Museum, Forest Hill, London. These generally have one or two finger holes giving the familiar cuckoo sound, and are blown through the tail.
European ones are usually bare clay with crude enamel decoration.
Fig.4 from Sweden actually has eight holes of equal size making the intervals between notes the same, the scale inaccurate and the instrument a toy. The ocarina or 'little goose' was developed by Donati in Italy in 1860. It has up to ten holes and is egg-shaped with a protruding airduct. Despite its degree of sophistication and its early popularity the ocarina is now a toy found alongside kazoos, tin whistles and jews harps. When the vessel is filled to part way up the spout and blown, a chirruping effect is produced.