If you live in Chicago, you might have noticed that it’s been rather cold outside. Today it was about 5 degrees and it seemed warm enough to go outside without a hat on.

So the other day during our deep freeze I spotted a dead pigeon on the ground on my way to work. Somehow a frozen dead pigeon sounds more interesting than an unfrozen one. Or maybe it was more interesting because I just read this two-page guide to taxidermy from the 1884 book Art Recreations: A guide to decorative art.

Did you have any idea that taxidermy could be so easy? Obviously taxidermy experts have been hiding something from the masses by making us think that we need special training to practice their art when all we really need is some extra pillow stuffing and arsenic.