diff --git a/lib/client.js b/lib/client.js
index 3093888..5f18b63 100644
--- a/lib/client.js
+++ b/lib/client.js
@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@ var Connection = require(__dirname + '/connection');
 var parseConnectionString = function(str) {
   var result = url.parse(str);
   result.host = result.hostname;
-  result.database = result.pathname.slice(1);
+  result.database = result.pathname ? result.pathname.slice(1) : null
   var auth = (result.auth || ':').split(':');
   result.user = auth[0];
   result.password = auth[1];
diff --git a/test/unit/client/configuration-tests.js b/test/unit/client/configuration-tests.js
index 7c7a826..4a90811 100644
--- a/test/unit/client/configuration-tests.js
+++ b/test/unit/client/configuration-tests.js
@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@ test('client settings', function() {
       port: 321,
       password: password
     });
-    
+
     assert.equal(client.user, user);
     assert.equal(client.database, database);
     assert.equal(client.port, 321);
@@ -27,3 +27,26 @@ test('client settings', function() {
   });
 
 });
+
+test('initializing from a config string', function() {
+
+  test('uses the correct values from the config string', function() {
+    var client = new Client("pg://brian:pass@host1:333/databasename")
+    assert.equal(client.user, 'brian')
+    assert.equal(client.password, "pass")
+    assert.equal(client.host, "host1")
+    assert.equal(client.port, 333)
+    assert.equal(client.database, "databasename")
+  })
+
+  test('when not including all values the defaults are used', function() {
+    var client = new Client("pg://host1")
+    assert.equal(client.user, "")
+    assert.equal(client.password, "")
+    assert.equal(client.host, "host1")
+    assert.equal(client.port, 5432)
+    assert.equal(client.database, "")
+  })
+
+
+})