I’ve come across some references in English literature to a sow-gelder’s horn. Apparently there was such a profession (“geld” used to have a wider meaning than it does today, so “sow-spayer”), and they announced themselves with horns. I imagine the reaction was similar to when today’s children hear the tinny, distorted renditions of ice-cream van music. But what might it sound like? A trumpet, a tuba, a trombone? Any musical or theater history people know? (For reference, an article claims that “A sow-gelder actually appears on the stage in ’ Beggar’s Bush ‘, III, i, and jokes about the sow-gelder’s horn crop up in ‘The Picture’, ‘The Lover’s Melancholy’ and ’ Westward Ho’.”)
Bonus: I’m asking because I’m trying to identify a bird compared to its sound, either the guillemot or the red-throated diver / loon. Neither sounds particularly horn-like to me.