The wingless bird's screech (4)
I believe the answer is:
howl
'screech' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'the wingless bird's' is the wordplay.
'wingless' indicates the central letters (the wings or sides of the letters are removed).
'bird' becomes 'owl' (owl is a kind of bird).
The middle of 'the' is 'h'.
'h'+'owl'='HOWL'
(Other definitions for howl that I've seen before include "Long cry of pain" , "Lazy person" , "Screech" , "Long cry of dog" , "Plaintive wolf cry" .)