Atingle, seeing French birds (12)

I believe the answer is:

greenfinches

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

'birds' is the definition.

'atingle seeing french' is the wordplay.
'seeing french' can be anagrammed to 'GREENFINCHES'.
Though, I'm unsure how the anagram is indicated.

Can you help me to learn more?

I've seen this clue in The Everyman puzzle in The Observer.

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