Black birds hunting dogs (7)
I believe the answer is:
beagles
'hunting dogs' is the definition.
(beagle is a kind of hunting dog)
'black birds' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite see how this works, but
'black' could be 'b' (as in pencil classifications) and 'b' is located in the answer.
'birds' could be 'eagles' (eagle is a kind of bird) and 'eagles' is present in the answer.
This accounts for all the letters.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for beagles that I've seen before include "Short-legged hounds" , "Hunting hounds" , "Dogs" , "These hounds bag eels badly" .)