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).