(but see the next section, as well as § \[sec:parent\] below). Nevertheless, the single-parameter fits unambiguously demonstrate that the sequence of nonBALs, HiBALs, and LoBALs is a sequence of quasars with increasingly red colors. This result is consistent with the finding of (2001) for their radio-selected sample of HiBALs and inconsistent with the original findings of ([Weymann]{} [et al.]{} 1991); both of these previous results are based on much smaller samples.

Individual Measurements
-----------------------

We derive qualitatively similar results from the fits to individual quasars, as seen in Figure \[fig:fig2\]. The upper, left-hand panel shows that, for the $P$-fits, BALQSOs (both HiBALs and LoBALs) have a distribution of spectral indices which is shifted slightly to the red (more positive values of $\alpha_P=\alpha_{\lambda}$) and has a much larger fraction of quasars in the red tail. For the $RP$-fits (upper, right-hand and lower, left-hand panels) the derived spectral indices for both BALQSOs and nonBALQSOs are similar, but the best-fit reddening values are skewed slightly to the red.

The $RP$-fit results are better illustrated in the lower, right-hand panel where we plot $\alpha_{RP}$ versus $E(B-V)_{RP}$. The $\alpha_{RP}$ values are clearly non-physical since the range of values is much larger than the observed distribution 