680 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts, and Letters. 
From Dr. Brewer’s letter of November 20, 1854, it appears 
that Kumlien had discovered the new vireo in 1854, or earlier. 
Ornithologists in Boston became interested in the find. It was 
supposed by Kumlien to be the Vireo Belli of Audubon. Others 
thought the same. 
Dr. Brewer had written Kumlien that Mr. John Cassin had de¬ 
scribed this vireo in the Proceedings of the Philadelphia Academy, 
and Brewer wrote that he had prepared a paper for the Boston 
Society of Natural History, “in which I mean that you shall have 
all due credit.” After this paper was published, Mr. Cassin wrote 
Dr. Brewer to compliment him on the paper. 
The case is thus stated in Birds of Wisconsin; 
“In the early forties Thure Kumlien procured specimens of a vireo 
which he named Belli of which he could find no description. This led to 
some confusion with Lewrence, Baird, and others who had not seen the 
specimens. The bird referred to was later described by Cassin as Vireo 
Philadelphicus” ( 16 >. 
Kumlien was not a traveler. In 1865 he had planned to make 
a zoological and botanical exploration through Kansas, and a 
visit to his friend Greene, then in the northern army in Tennes¬ 
see; but I cannot find any evidence of these journeys having been 
taken. He frequently made visits to Madison. He went by boat 
to Two Rivers. He lived for the last seven years of his life in 
Milwaukee. He may have made journeys to other parts of Amer¬ 
ica and Wisconsin, and doubtless he did. The herbarium of the 
Milwaukee Public museum has collections made by him in Wau¬ 
kesha County. In a number of letters he proposed to make a 
six months’ tour of the region of the upper Mississippi River and 
its principal tributaries and of the Lake Superior region in 1861. 
Some memoranda given the date on which he shot a certain bird 
as June 17, 1861, and the place as Sauk City. He may have ac¬ 
complished the contemplated excursion, as Sauk City is on the 
Wisconsin River. One of his letters mentions having returned 
after a six months’ absence from home. 
“Krom miles about, people came to Tbure Kumlien to consult bim on 
all manner of domestic questions because of bis general reading, informa¬ 
tion, and education. They consulted about their taxes, and got bim to 
survey their land lines.” 
He was well known and respected and looked up to by all his 
neighbors for many miles about his home. He was a God-fear¬ 
ing, honest man, and never had a lawsuit. 
