The Theatre: New Bird

Ornithologists generally do not like to shoot birds, but that is the best way to collect specimens, so they harden their hearts for the sake of science. One day Ornithologist Karl W. Haller of Bethany College was out in the wooded hills of West Virginia's Eastern Panhandle. He had a gun; he was looking for warblers.He heard one—a quick, burred trill. He spotted the warbler, stopped the song with a shot.

When Haller picked up the crumpled bit of down and feathers, he saw that it was a male, with a yellow throat with raw sienna, a yellowish olive patch on...