diff --git a/HISTORY.md b/HISTORY.md
index c9d346b28b4f444bba2b06fba6b63995c1dcee9f..9e4c953245e4898c379010a5029e881cc4837e8c 100644
--- a/HISTORY.md
+++ b/HISTORY.md
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 ## master
 
+* handle pull requests from private repos
 * support branches with slashes in their name
 * display server errors when creating pullrequest fails
 * support GitHub Enterprise via multiple whitelisted host names
diff --git a/lib/hub/commands.rb b/lib/hub/commands.rb
index 00a2dfec2f45924c15c82dca817155ec025895b2..fd8bd03e75a62426f51a1c2659216c2c5899af2b 100644
--- a/lib/hub/commands.rb
+++ b/lib/hub/commands.rb
@@ -313,7 +313,9 @@ module Hub
           args.before ['remote', 'set-branches', '--add', user, branch]
           args.before ['fetch', user, "+refs/heads/#{branch}:refs/remotes/#{user}/#{branch}"]
         else
-          args.before ['remote', 'add', '-f', '-t', branch, user, github_project(url.project_name, user).git_url]
+          url = github_project(url.project_name, user).git_url(:private => pull_data['head']['repository']['private'],
+                                                               :https => https_protocol?)
+          args.before ['remote', 'add', '-f', '-t', branch, user, url]
         end
         args[1..-1] = ['-b', new_branch_name, "#{user}/#{branch}"]
       end
diff --git a/test/hub_test.rb b/test/hub_test.rb
index d457ab392af23267fc5585c986be15f5b751f197..0ee08ee8f07fedaf971a8f926a3283b7dd7c514c 100644
--- a/test/hub_test.rb
+++ b/test/hub_test.rb
@@ -906,6 +906,15 @@ class HubTest < Test::Unit::TestCase
       "checkout https://github.com/defunkt/hub/pull/73/files"
   end
 
+  def test_checkout_private_pullrequest
+    stub_request(:get, "https://#{auth}github.com/api/v2/json/pulls/defunkt/hub/73").
+      to_return(:body => mock_pull_response('blueyed:feature', :private))
+
+    assert_commands 'git remote add -f -t feature blueyed git@github.com:blueyed/hub.git',
+      'git checkout -b blueyed-feature blueyed/feature',
+      "checkout https://github.com/defunkt/hub/pull/73/files"
+  end
+
   def test_checkout_pullrequest_custom_branch
     stub_request(:get, "https://#{auth}github.com/api/v2/json/pulls/defunkt/hub/73").
       to_return(:body => mock_pull_response('blueyed:feature'))
@@ -1311,8 +1320,8 @@ config
       %({"pull": { "html_url": "https://github.com/#{name_with_owner}/pull/#{id}" }})
     end
 
-    def mock_pull_response(label)
-      %({"pull": { "head": { "label": "#{label}" }}})
+    def mock_pull_response(label, priv = false)
+      %({"pull": { "head": { "label": "#{label}", "repository": {"private":#{!!priv}} }}})
     end
 
     def improved_help_text