Bird of elegant spirit on river? (9)
I believe the answer is:
chickadee
'bird' is the definition.
(chickadee is a kind of bird)
'elegant spirit on river?' is the wordplay.
'elegant' becomes 'chic' (chic means fashionable or elegant).
'spirit' becomes 'ka' (I've seen this in other clues).
'on' says to put letters next to each other.
'river?' becomes 'Dee' (River Dee).
'chic'+'ka'+'dee'='CHICKADEE'
'of' is the link.
(Other definitions for chickadee that I've seen before include "US bird" , "flier from America" .)