A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush

Meaning

It's better to have a small actual advantage than the chance of a greater one.

It isn't until the late 18th century that we find the phrase in its currently used form. The earliest I've located is from a directory of British folk ballads - The Vocal Magazine: Or, Compleat British Songster, 1781. This lyric is taken from a song entitled 'A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush' and is listed as being 'Sung at Vauxhall' [London]

Gay Strephon declares I'm the girl in his mind,
If he proves fincere, I'll be conftant and kind,
He vows that tomorrow he'll make me his wife,
I'll fondly endeavour to blefs him for life,
For all other fwains I care not a rufh,
One bird in the hand is worth two in the bufh.

In addition to the obvious change in meaning of the word 'gay' we can also see in that lyric a use of 'bird' as a synonym for girl/woman. This usage is in fact quite old and dates from at least the 14th century.

By how much the phrase predates 1781 isn't clear, as variations of the phrase have been known for centuries. The earliest English version of the proverb is from the Bible and was translated into English in Wycliffe's version in 1382, although Latin texts have it from the 13th century:

Ecclesiastes IX - A living dog is better than a dead lion.

Alternatives that explicitly mention birds in hand come later. The earliest of those is in Hugh Rhodes' The boke of nurture or schoole of good maners, circa 1530:

"A byrd in hand - is worth ten flye at large."

John Heywood, the 16th century collector of proverbs, recorded another version in his ambitiously titled A dialogue conteinyng the nomber in effect of all the prouerbes in the Englishe tongue, 1546:

"Better one byrde in hande than ten in the wood."

The Bird in Hand was adopted as a pub name in the UK in the Middle Ages and there are still many pubs of that name there. This refers back to mediaeval falconry where a bird in the hand (the falcon) was certainly worth more than two in the bush (the prey).

The term bird in hand must have been known in the USA by 1734, as that is the date when a small town in Pennsylvania was founded with that name.