The work presented here is based in part on data obtained with the ESO facilities on La Silla (EFOSC/3.6-m) and Paranal (FORS1/UT1).

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Figure 1 is only available in electronic form at http://www.edpsciences.org

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...(H I)

One of the observed QSOs actually has $z_{\rm em}$ < 2.2 due to an incorrect redshift in our original list, see Table 3.

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... IRAF

IRAF is distributed by the National Optical Astronomy Observatories, which are operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc, under cooperative agreement with the National Science Foundation.

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... $z_{\min} = 1.8$

We note that although most surveys calculate $z_{\min}$ for each QSO on a case by case basis, depending on wavelength coverage and S/N, we have designed the CORALS survey to have adequate spectral range and S/N to achieve a uniform lower redshift cut-off.

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