We have performed a successful targetted search for a population of red radio-quiet , and probably absorbed , quasars .
Radio-quiet , optically-red ROSAT PSPC X-ray sources brighter than 1 \times 10 ^ { -13 } erg cm ^ { -2 } s ^ { -1 } were searched for red ( O-E > 2.0 , O \leq 20 ) counterparts in the APM catalog of Palomar Sky Survey objects .
Of 45 objects for which we obtained adequate follow-up optical spectroscopy , we have found 7 red quasars , 5 with \alpha _ { opt } < -2 .
Their redshifts range from 0.06 to 0.31 , and their luminosities are moderate , lying on the Seyfert/Quasar boundary .
These red quasars strengthen the case for a radio-quiet population that is the counterpart of the radio-loud red quasars found by Smith and Spinrad ( 1980 ) , and Webster et al .
( 1995 ) .
Unidentified , fainter , sources could increase the fraction of red quasars by up to a factor 7 .

For the red quasars found here , the H \alpha / H \beta ratios , optical slope and X-ray colors all indicate that they are absorbed by A _ { V } \sim 2 , rather than having intrinsically red spectra .
This amount of obscuration seems to hide \sim 1-7 % of quasars at a given observed flux , or \sim 3-20 % when their fluxes are corrected to their intrinsic values .
This size of population is consistent with earlier limits , with predicted values from Comastri et al .
( 1995 ) , and is comparable to the rate found among radio-loud quasars .

A large population of more heavily absorbed ( A _ { V } = 5 ) , fainter , quasars equal in size to the blue population could exist , without violating existing upper limits , in accord with the Comastri et al .
( 1995 ) predictions .