Romeo and Juliet, Act i. Sc. 2.
Beatrice says (Much Ado about Nothing, Act i. Sc. 1),—“I had rather hear my dog bark at a crow than a man swear he loves me;” but then this was meant to be personal, for Benedick, whom she addressed, was not a favoured suitor. She might have added, with Dromio, in the Comedy of Errors, Act iii. Sc. 1:—
“We’ll pluck a crow together.”
This saying appears to be of some antiquity, but the origin of it is not very clear.
CROW-KEEPER AND SCARE-CROW.
The custom of protecting newly sown wheat from the birds by keeping a lad to shout, or putting up a “scare-crow,” is no doubt an old one. Shakespeare makes allusion to both methods:—
“That fellow handles his bow like a crow-keeper.”
King Lear, Act iv. Sc. 6.
That is like a boy employed to keep the crows from the corn. So again—
“Scaring the ladies like a crow-keeper.”