Oligosaccharides, which are O- and N-glycosidically linked on salivary glycoproteins from the edible bird's nest of chinese swallows, were released by alkaline borohydride treatment of the asialoglycoproteins and fractionated by gel chromatography. Fract. VN1 (oligosaccharides greater than 2 000 dalton) apparently represented a mixture of saccharides derived from complex, N-glycosidically linked glycans (molar ratio Man/GlcNAc/Gal 3:4:8), while fractions VN2 (tetra- to hexasaccharides), VN3 (trisaccharide) and VN4 (disaccharide) were free of mannose, but did contain all the N-acetylgalactosamine released from the protein as its alditol. Oligosaccharides in Fract. VN2 and VN4 were purified by high-performance liquid chromatography, paper chromatography and thin-layer chromatography, methylated and analysed after total or partial acid hydrolysis by gas-liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry. The structures of a hexasaccharide in Fract. VN2/6 and of a tetrasaccharide in fraction VN2/4 were finally established after methylation through direct-probe mass spectrometry: Gal(1----4)GlcNAc(1----3)Gal(1----4)GlcNAc(1----3)Gal(1----3)GalNAc- ol and Gal(1----4)GlcNAc(1----6)[Gal(1----3)]GalNAc-ol. Mass spectrometrical and gas-chromatographical data obtained for a disaccharide in Fract. VN4 were identical with those for Gal(beta 1----3)GalNAc-ol.