Well-known name for the female canary's tail (5)
I believe the answer is:
henry
'canary's tail' is the definition.
Although both the answer and definition are singular nouns, I can't see how one could define the other.
'well-known name for the female' is the wordplay.
'well known name' becomes 'ry' (I can't justify this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'for' says to put letters next to each other (I've seen this in other clues).
'the female' becomes 'hen' (female chicken).
'ry' after 'hen' is 'HENRY'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for henry that I've seen before include "O. -; US writer" , "Best Actor Oscar winner 1981, for 'On Golden Pond'" , "-- James, US novelist" , "Author of The Turn of the Screw" , "- the Navigator, Portuguese prince" .)