Artist captures male bird (4)
I believe the answer is:
rhea
'bird' is the definition.
(rhea is a kind of bird)
'artist captures male' is the wordplay.
'artist' becomes 'ra' (Royal Academician, member of Royal Academy of Arts).
'captures' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'male' becomes 'he'.
'ra' placed around 'he' is 'RHEA'.
(Other definitions for rhea that I've seen before include "Grounded bird" , "Flightless bird - Greek fertility goddess" , "It can't fly" , "Titaness" , "S. Amer. flightless bird" .)