grass-down

The nest is composed of fine tow-like vegetable fibres and thread, by which it is attached to the twigs, a little grass-down being blended in the mass, and the cavity being very sparsely lined with very fine grass-stems.

The Nests and Eggs of Indian Birds, Volume 1 Allan Octavian Hume 1870

It also, however, often makes a nest entirely composed of fine vegetable fibre, cotton, and grass-down, and lined as usual with fine grass-roots.

The Nests and Eggs of Indian Birds, Volume 1 Allan Octavian Hume 1870

Many other nests subsequently obtained were similar in their materials, the great body of the nest consisting of grass-down, slightly felted together and wound round with slender blades of grass.

The Nests and Eggs of Indian Birds, Volume 1 Allan Octavian Hume 1870

It was rather flimsy in structure, composed of grass-down, more or less felted together, and bound round externally with dry green grass-blades; internally it was scantily lined with fine grass-stems, which were used to strengthen the lower lip of the entrance-hole.

The Nests and Eggs of Indian Birds, Volume 1 Allan Octavian Hume 1870

A nest which I found near Kotegurh is composed of fine grass _very_ loosely and slightly put together, all the interspaces being carefully filled in with grass-down firmly felted together.

The Nests and Eggs of Indian Birds, Volume 1 Allan Octavian Hume 1870

With few exceptions all the innumerable nests of _O. sutorius_ that I have seen were lined with some soft substance -- cotton-wool, the silky down of the cotton-tree (_Bomlax heptaphyllum_) grass-down, soft horsehair, or even human hair, while the nests of _P. stewarti_ are almost without exception _lined_ with fine grass-roots.

The Nests and Eggs of Indian Birds, Volume 1 Allan Octavian Hume 1870