The brilliant plumage of the male Unfezant does not function solely, as had once been believed, to attract a mate; it is equally adept at frightening away predators. Its bright pink color recalls venom, or perhaps psychic powers, and the shape serves to give the face a terrifying appearance from which most untrained pokemon – predator and prey alike – flee. It is the female Unfezant which hunts, for it is more difficult to spot over long distances, unencumbered by a mask which can at times interfere with flight, and more easily mistaken for harmless; the male of the species typically spends its time protecting the nest from predators, moreso by terror than by actual combat.
Humans, however, are a species with sophisticated brains and a myriad of masks and other adornments, so they have found the male Unfezant no scarier than its mate. Understanding the mask to be clothing, and ascribing to it the qualities of beauty and virility which it suggests to female Unfezant (although applying the same aesthetic taste to female humans is always spurious) some men have even sought to steal it, with little success. Although the Unfezant mask appears loose in the eye area, it is in fact composed of a very unusual group of feathers, and can not be removed without both killing the Unfezant and staining the mask irreversibly with blood.
Their faces injured by beaks and talons, these men then covered their faces artificially, often with masks inspired by these very pokemon. A few went so far as to fraudulently claim victory, and although the false Unfezant masks did not necessarily win their wearers romantic success, they did intrigue many with their craftsmanship and mystique. Similarly constructed masks remain a staple in theater and on television to this day.
