While serving in India during the Second World War, Philipson made several sketches of people watching a cock fight. Ten years later, in 1952, he returned to the subject, changing the focus from the crowds to the birds themselves. He continued to explore the theme throughout the 1960s, and even visited a poultry research laboratory to study the birds at close quarters. The free, gestural style which Philipson was exploring at that time was ideal for expressing the violent, frenetic movement of the fighting cocks.