In order to study the structure and formation history of the galaxy,
we have obtained low-to-moderate dispersion spectra of 302 nearby RR
Lyrae variables of Bailey type 'ab'. We derived abundances, typically
accurate to 0.15-0.20 dex and calibrated to the Zinn & West (1984)
globular cluster metallicity scale, from the pseudoequivalent widths
of the Ca II K, H delta, H gamma, and H beta lines. Radial velocities
accurate to between 2 and 30 km/s were obtained from the spectra and
from the literature.  Distances accurate to between 5% and 20% were
derived from published apparent magnitudes and Burstein & Heiles
(1982) reddenings. The metallicity distribution of the RR Lyrae stars
peaks at (Fe/H)(sub K) approximately equals -1.5, and is narrower than
that of the Ryan & Norris (1991) subdwarfs, as expected since the most
metal-rich and metal-poor progenitors preferentially appear as stable
red and blue horizontal branch stars, rather than as RR Lyrae. The
metal-rich tail of the RR Lyrae distribution extends to (Fe/H)(sub K)
approximately equals 0, and a qualitative analysis of the distribution
of distances from the galactic plane shows that the stars in this tail
(i.e., (Fe/H)(sub K) greater than -1.0) are more concentrated to the
plane than the more metal-poor stars. The abundance distribution of
the local RR Lyrae stars is in excellent agreement with the changing
abundance distributions of distant RR Lyrae stars as a function of
galactocentric distance, as derived by Suntzeff et al. (1991), who
ascribed this change to systematic variation in horizontal branch
morphology (probably age variations) with galactocentric distance. The
abundance distribution of the local RR Lyrae stars also agrees well
with those of the distant RR Lyrae stars as a function of distance
from the galactic plane. There is no evidence for an abundance
gradient in this direction, suggesting that gaseous dissipation did
not play a major role in the formation of the outer halo.