McCutcheon left the "Record-Herald" in 1903 and moved to the "Chicago Tribune" where he remained until his retirement in 1946. McCutcheon brought along his boy-theme cartoons, as well as his signature dog illustration, but he also introduced another human-interest series. In describing his reason for creating his human interest-themed cartoons, McCutcheon said, "I always enjoyed drawing a type of cartoon which might be considered a sort of pictorial breakfast food. It had the cardinal asset of making the beginning of the day sunnier." McCutcheon's "Bird Center" cartoons depicted a fictional small town that included a stereotypical cast of characters. A collection of his work from the series was published as "Bird Center Cartoons: Chronicle of Social Happenings at Bird Center" (1904).