Climbing on the southern crags of Morialta the loud metallic bell-like voice of the Bell-magpie can always be heard.
They have a subtle ringing call which gives them the common name "bell magpie".
While on Lord Howe Island he made the earliest known drawing of the now extinct white gallinule, and observed the bell magpie or currawong and four now rare or extinct birds, which have been identified as the Lord Howe Island pigeon, the booby, the Lord Howe Island rail or woodhen, and an extinct species of parrakeet.
The bell magpie was brought to New Zealand by the Acclimatisation Societies to control pasture pests and was protected until 1951.