Hawaiian Monk Seal — Kenyon and Rice 
249 
Fig. 18. Subadult monk seal. Dark patches above eye and on mu 22 le indicate green algae {Pringsheimiella) 
growth. The characteristic mode of progression on land is demonstrated. Midway Atoll, February 2, 1957 
(KWK 57-3-5). 
Flies 
Flies frequently cause seals considerable 
annoyance. They often cluster about the eyes 
of sleeping seals. On one occasion, a large 
female was resting under the Scaevola along 
the upper beach line. Swarms of flies clustered 
on one of her eyes; at intervals of several 
seconds, she brushed them away with her 
foreflipper. After this occurred several times, 
she crawled onto the open sand where the 
breeze was strong enough to keep the flies 
away. Flies swarmed around two open, fester- 
ing wounds on the back of an old female 
hauled out on the beach. 
On May 4, 1957, we collected several flies 
found swarming on a healthy subadult seal on 
Eastern Island. These were identified by 
Charles R. Joyce, as follows; Lucilia graphita 
Shannon, Chrysomyia megacephala Fab., Phoe- 
nicia sericata (Meigen). 
Birds 
The islets and beaches where seals haul out 
are the nesting grounds of thousands of black- 
footed albatrosses {Diomedea nigripes) and 
Laysan albatrosses {Diomedea immutabilis) . 
Thus, the birds are frequently in the proximity 
of seals. We watched an adult Laysan alba- 
tross gaze curiously at a sleeping seal. After 
slowly walking around the animal, it paused 
near its head, then reached out and gingerly 
pecked the seal on the nose. Lurching vio- 
lently, the seal awoke and the startled alba- 
tross took flight. A basking seal threatened a 
curious black-footed albatross with open 
jaws. An adult seal threatened an albatross 
chick which happened to be in its line of 
travel toward the sea. The chick returned the 
threats with an aggressive display of beak 
snapping. When only inches separated the 
two, the seal altered its course, avoiding the 
chick which it surely would otherwise have 
crushed. 
On January 31, 1957, we observed a seal, 
presumably feeding in shallow water north of 
Eastern Island. Two great frigate birds (Fre- 
gata minor) were flying about 50 feet above it. 
Several times the birds dropped down to 
snatch bits of refuse from the surface— pos- 
sibly the intestines of fish (the Mediterranean 
monk seal is said to remove the intestines by 
squeezing before swallowing the rest of the 
fish). 
SUMMARY 
1. The Hawaiian monk seal [Monachus 
