As a prelude to testing deductions from the Ferguson and other ability theories that environment influences patterns of ability, school children in 5 large and 11 small isolated communities on the South Coast of Newfoundland were tested to compare ability patterns of children in small places with those in large communities. Data used for comparison in the 1969 study were gathered from all students in grades five, six, and seven by means of the Otis Quick Scoring Test of Mental Ability, the Raven Progressive Matrices, and the Primary Mental Abilities Test. Results showed: (1) no difference in level of general intelligence between children from large and small isolated communities, (2) children from large communities excelled on the verbal intelligence test, verbal meaning, and reasoning, (3) children in small communities excelled on the space test, and (4) no difference was found in number and word fluency. Because it was shown that different patterns of ability do exist in these small and large isolated communities and because people are moving from small to larger places, the South Coast of Newfoundland was deduced to be an ideal testing ground for the theory that children moving from areas where patterns of ability are different will show changes in ability patterns in line with stresses imposed by a new environment. (RS)