Bone for a bird in total (7)
I believe the answer is:
sternum
'bone' is the definition.
(the breastbone)
'a bird in total' is the wordplay.
'a bird' becomes 'tern' (tern is a kind of bird).
'in' indicates putting letters inside.
'total' becomes 'sum' (synonyms).
'tern' placed into 'sum' is 'STERNUM'.
'for' is the link.
(Other definitions for sternum that I've seen before include "somewhere in chest" , "big bone" , "Chest bone" , "Human bone -- ten rums (anag)" , "Munster (anag.)" .)