...it makes me think of a bugle gurgling.

Er, that wasn't exactly the sort of poetic use I was thinking of, Jackie, but your usage does have a certain je-ne-sais-quoi. I recall that members of the brass section in my school orchestra used to regularly remove their instruments' mouthpieces and empty the spit (yes, I know, yuk!), apparently in order to avoid being accused of burgling. And I can now imagine the third clarinets immediately in front of the trumpets complaining bitterly "I've been burgled!"