French flageolet

The flageolet is a wind instrument closely related to the recorder. It is a fipple, or whistle, flute, meaning it's played by directing a stream of breath through a duct to strike the edge of a hole in the pipe. The name "flageolet" comes from the Old French word for "pipe".1

Developed in Paris around the late 16th century, the principal French form has four front finger holes and two back thumbholes. It was popular with amateurs and sometimes used in orchestras as a piccolo. Later versions, like the English flageolet, had six front finger holes. Flageolets could also be built as double pipes, played with a single mouthpiece. The term "flageolet" can also refer generally to any fipple flute.12