diff --git a/tests/data/sqlite/empty.db b/tests/data/sqlite/empty.db
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..98816e6c2
Binary files /dev/null and b/tests/data/sqlite/empty.db differ
diff --git a/tests/python_tests/sqlite_test.py b/tests/python_tests/sqlite_test.py
index 464c9690f..0a99bfa33 100644
--- a/tests/python_tests/sqlite_test.py
+++ b/tests/python_tests/sqlite_test.py
@@ -196,6 +196,15 @@ if 'sqlite' in mapnik2.DatasourceCache.instance().plugin_names():
         eq_(feature['rowid'],1)
         eq_(feature['fips'],u'AC')
 
+
+    def test_empty_db():
+        ds = mapnik2.SQLite(file='../data/sqlite/empty.db', 
+            table='empty',
+            )
+        fs = ds.featureset()
+        feature = fs.next()
+        eq_(feature,None)
+
 if __name__ == "__main__":
     setup()
     [eval(run)() for run in dir() if 'test_' in run]