Crossword Genius

Australian sextet, Roman Deity, start attracting the local birds (8)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

avifauna

'local birds' is the definition.
(avifauna are the birds of a local region)

'australian sextet roman deity start attracting' is the wordplay.
'australian' becomes 'A' (common abbreviation).
'sextet' becomes 'vi' (group of six - VI are the Roman numerals for six).
'roman deity' becomes 'faun' (I've seen this in another clue).
'start' indicates taking the first letters.
The initial letter of 'attracting' is 'a'.
'a'+'vi'+'faun'+'a'='AVIFAUNA'

'the' is the link.

(Other definitions for avifauna that I've seen before include "Local birds" , "The birds of a particular region" , "Flyers locally" , "Bird collection" .)

I've seen this clue in the Sydney Morning Herald.
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