EUNUCH FLUTE or ONION FLUTE, a wind instrument in use during the 16th and 17th centuries, producing music akin to the comb-music of the nursery, and still manufactured as a toy (mirliton). It consists of a wooden tube widening out slightly to form a bell and closed at its upper end by means of a very fine membrane. The mouthpiece, a simple round hole, is pierced a couple of inches below the membrane ; into this hole the performer sings, his voice setting up vibrations in the membrane, which thus intensifies the sound and changes its timbre to a bleating quality.