Carry on and have a pet songbird (4,2,2)
I believe the answer is:
keep at it
'carry on' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'have a pet songbird' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite see how this works, but
'have' could be 'keep' (keeping is a kind of having) and 'keep' is present in the answer.
'a' is found in the answer.
'songbird' could be 'tit' (tit is a type of songbird) and 'tit' is found in the answer.
This accounts for all the letters.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
'and' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for keep at it that I've seen before include "Continue" , "Persevere" , "carry on" .)