You'll hear it just once every 100 years at a certain academic institution in honor of an event that supposedly occurred at that institution's foundation. Referring to a striking example of the Genus Anas, but also to various related creatures, including one that seduced a legendary lady, it was temporarily bowdlerized but voiced in full at the most recent performance. What could it be?

zbeckabee

The Warden and College of the Souls of all Faithful People deceased in the University of Oxford -- All Souls College. Every hundred years there is a commemorative feast after which the fellows parade around the College with flaming torches, singing the Mallard Song and led by a "Lord Mallard" who is carried in a chair, in search of a legendary mallard that supposedly flew out of the foundations of the college when it was being built. The last mallard ceremony was in 2001 and the next will be held in 2101. At All Souls College, Oxford, there is a hunt for a mallard duck every 100 years (which puts Panama’s infancy in perspective) which commemorates the finding of a duck that was hiding when the college was being built in 1437. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All_Souls_College http://www.trustserv.com/Offshore%20Pilot%20-%20Sept,%202003.htm Regarding the MALLARD SONG: Not surprisingly, the Victorians disapproved of the reference to the mallard's "swapping tool of generation", mightier than any other in "ye wingged Nation" (of birds). They dropped this verse from the song, but to the delight of traditionalists, it was restored in the 2001 ceremony. (And apparently this honour does indeed belong to a duck, though not a mallard. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mallard_Song Aug 08 08, 9:02 PM

lanfranco

Ah ha! A splendid answer! Now, I hoped to locate a silver swan in my vault, but a certain Spartan friend seems to have made off with my last one, and all I could find was an ugly silver duckling. Until I restock, it will just have to do. But you never know what it might become. Aug 08 08, 10:22 PM