Crossword Genius

Not a bareheaded bird? (5)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

capon

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'bird?' is the definition.
(I know that capon is a type of chicken)

'not a bareheaded' is the wordplay.
'not' becomes 'capo' (I can't justify this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'a' becomes 'an'.
'bareheaded' means to remove the first letter (the 'head' of the word is removed).
'an' with its initial letter taken away is 'n'.
'capo'+'n'='CAPON'

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for capon that I've seen before include "Castrated male chicken" , "Male fowl fattened for eating" , "Castrated cock fattened for eating" , "fowl fattened for pot" , "Castrated bird" .)

I've seen this clue in the Evening Standard.
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