The common name and Latin binomial commemorate the American collector William Doherty.

[2] A strikingly coloured, medium-sized bush shrike which in the adults is mostly green with a bright red forehead and throat, a broad black breast band and a bright lemon-yellow belly, the tail is black.

This species forages by searching dense undergrowth where it gleans from the vegetation and feeds on the ground on arthropods, mainly beetles and grasshoppers.

The breeding season is between April and July in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and May and June in Uganda and Kenya.

[3] It is a highland species generally found between 1,500 and 3,350 metres (4,920 and 10,990 ft) in altitude, the related and similar gorgeous bush-shrike is its lowland equivalent.