scarecrow
noun

- an object, usually suggesting a human figure, that is set up to frighten birds away from crops

- something frightening but harmless

- a skinny or ragged person

*In this line. Falstaff is referring to a group of soldiers as scarecrows in the sense of someone who is skinny (underfed) and wearing torn clothes.

(Merriam-Webster's Online Dictionary)

---
WORD ORIGIN

According to the Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, the word scarecrow has been around since the late 16th century. It is a compound word consisting of "scare" (to frighten) and "crow", a type of bird known to damage crops growing in a field.

Some historians claim scarecrows were used by the ancient Egyptians, Greeks, Romans and Japanese, although in somewhat different forms than what we know as the classic scarecrow, which is made to look like a human. Their use carried on into the Middle Ages and spread throughout Europe.

---
William Shakespeare was very fond of this word. In Henry IV:

"No eye hath seen such SCARECROWS."

Referring to a group of soldiers as scarecrows in the sense of someone who is skinny (underfed) and wearing torn clothes.

"You SCARECROW, you skin of an elf, you dried-out ox's tongue,... you salted cod!"

A rather devastating public attack on a poor individual!

---
Today, farmers and garden owners can install modern high-tech scarecrows that operate with motion, sound and heat sensors to try and keep not only birds, but also other animals away by emitting noises or shooting streams of water for instance.

---
SMUGGLE OWAD into a conversation
say something like:

"I wonder whether how many animal species have evolved sufficiently to distinguish a SCARECROW from a real person?"