Hesitation shown by bird, unknown, seen around south of France (8)
I believe the answer is:
timidity
'hesitation' is the definition.
The definition and answer can be both human attributes as well as being singular nouns.
Maybe there's an association between them I don't understand?
'bird unknown seen around south of france' is the wordplay.
'bird' becomes 'tit' (tit is a kind of bird).
'unknown' becomes 'y' (algebra).
'seen around' is an insertion indicator.
'south of france' becomes 'midi' ('Le Midi' is a French term for the south of France).
'tit'+'y'='tity'
'tity' enclosing 'midi' is 'TIMIDITY'.
'shown by' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for timidity that I've seen before include "Fear" , "Lack of courage" , "Nervousness" , "Fearfulness" , "Lack of assertiveness" .)