Measure husks first for the bird (9)
I believe the answer is:
chaffinch
'the bird' is the definition.
(chaffinch is a kind of bird)
'measure husks first' is the wordplay.
'measure' becomes 'inch' (inch is a kind of measure**).
'husks' becomes 'chaff' (I've seen this before).
'first' says to put letters next to each other.
'inch' put after 'chaff' is 'CHAFFINCH'.
'for' is the link.
(Other definitions for chaffinch that I've seen before include "Garden bird" , "flier" , "Singer" , "European bird with black and white wings" , "Common bird" .)