Scarecrow

For the fictional DC comics villain, see Scarecrow (comics).

A scarecrow is a figure usually made of sticks. It looks like a person. It is dressed in old clothes. A farmer puts a scarecrow in a field after he has planted seeds. He hopes the scarecrow will frighten birds away from the field. Some birds — such as crows and sparrows — eat the seeds the farmer plants. He does not want the birds to do this. If the birds eat the seeds, the farmer will not have a big crop of things to eat.^[1]

Scarecrows in a rice paddy in Japan

Scarecrows in stories and literature

Scarecrows are sometimes characters in stories. Nathaniel Hawthorne wrote a story about a scarecrow who comes to life in "Feathertop". The most famous storybook scarecrow is probably the one in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum.