Scarecrow
human-like decoy or mannequin placed in fields
A scarecrow is a decoy or mannequin that is often in the shape of a human. Scarecrows are usually dressed in old clothes and placed in open fields to discourage birds from disturbing and feeding on recently cast seed and growing crops. Scarecrows are used around the world by farmers, and are a notable symbol of farms and the countryside in popular culture.
Design
The common form of a scarecrow is a humanoid figure dressed in old clothes and placed in open fields to discourage birds such as crows or sparrows from disturbing and feeding on recently cast seed and growing crops. Machinery such as windmills have been employed as scarecrows, but the effectiveness lessens as animals become familiar with the structures.
Since the invention of the scarecrow, more effective methods have been developed. On California farmland, highly-reflective aluminized PET film ribbons are tied to the plants to produce shimmers from the sun. Another approach is using automatic noise guns powered by propane gas. One winery in New York has even used inflatable tube men or airdancers to scare away birds.
Other names
In the United Kingdom, where there are a number of different languages and dialects, there are a wide range of alternative names such as:
hay-man in England
tattie bogle or bodach-rocais (lit. 'old man of the rooks') in Scotland
bwbach in Wales
hodmedod in Berkshire
murmet in Devon
gallybagger on the Isle of Wight
tattie bogal on the Isle of Skye
mommet in Somerset
mawkin in Sussex
In popular culture
Joe's Scarecrow Village in Cape Breton, Canada, was a roadside attraction displaying dozens of scarecrows.
“Scarecrow” enters the record as human-like decoy or mannequin placed in fields. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Scarecrow, human-like and decoy can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 20, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q1990797. The Library of Congress control number is sh85118020. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank.
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This entry incorporates text from “Scarecrow” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.