We present the chemical compositions of four K giants (CS 22877-1, CS 22166
-16, CS 22169-35, and BS 16085-0050) that have [Fe/H] in the range -2.4 to
-3.1. Metal-poor stars with [Fe/H] < -2.5 are known to exhibit considerable
star-to-star variations of many elements. This quartet confirms this concl
usion. CS 22877-1 and CS 22166-16 are carbon-rich. There is significant spr
ead of [<alpha>/Fe] within our samples, where [alpha /Fe] is computed from
the mean of the [Mg/Fe] and [Ca/Fe] ratios. BS 16085-0050 is remarkably alp
ha -enriched with a mean [alpha /Fe] of +0.7, but CS 22169-35 is alpha -poo
r. The aluminum abundance also shows a significant variation over the sampl
e. A parallel and unsuccessful search among high-velocity late-type stars f
or metal-poor stars is described.