White-bellied seedsnipe

The white-bellied seedsnipe was described by the French polymath Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon in 1772, in his Histoire Naturelle des Oiseaux from a specimen collected on the Falkland Islands.[3] The bird was also illustrated in a hand-colored plate engraved by François-Nicolas Martinet in the Planches Enluminées D'Histoire Naturelle which was produced under the supervision of Edme-Louis Daubenton to accompany Buffon's text.[4] Neither the plate caption nor Buffon's description included a scientific name, but in 1783 the Dutch naturalist Pieter Boddaert coined the binomial name Tetrao malouinus in his catalogue of the Planches Enluminées.[5]

The white-bellied seedsnipe is now placed in the genus Attagis that was erected by the French ornithologists Isidore Saint-Hilaire and René Lesson in 1831.[6][2] Attagis was used for a game bird in Ancient Greek texts. It probably referred to the black francolin (Francolinus francolinus).

The specific epithet malouinus refers to the Îles Malouines, the French name for the Falkland Islands.[7] The species is monotypic.[2]

The white-bellied seedsnipe is 26.5 to 29 cm (10 to 11 in) long and weighs about 310 to 400 g (11 to 14 oz). The sexes are essentially alike. Males' upperparts and breast have an intricate scallop pattern of buff, cinnamon, and black; their chin and belly are white. Females have a somewhat less sharp division between the breast and belly than males. Juveniles are very similar to adults but are slightly paler and have somewhat heavier scalloping.[8]

The white-bellied seedsnipe is found from southern Chile's Magallanes Region and west-central Argentina's Río Negro Province south through Tierra del Fuego to islands off Cape Horn.[2][8] It has also occurred as a vagrant in the Falkland Islands.[9] In the breeding season it inhabits windswept ridges and moorland characterized by crowberry heath (Empetrum rubrum) and cushion plants. It also occurs along creeks and at small wetlands. Outside that season it mainly inhabits the Patagonian steppe.[2][8]

The IUCN has assessed the white-bellied seedsnipe as being of Least Concern. t has a large range, and though its population size is not known it is believed to be stable. No immediate threats have been identified.[1] Much of its Chilean range and part of that in Argentina are protected. It is "largely protected from human interference by occupation of harsh and inaccessible habitat."[8]