diff --git a/t/t4208-log-magic-pathspec.sh b/t/t4208-log-magic-pathspec.sh
index 627890d..935df6a6 100755
--- a/t/t4208-log-magic-pathspec.sh
+++ b/t/t4208-log-magic-pathspec.sh
@@ -65,6 +65,19 @@
 	test_must_fail git log :!does-not-exist
 '
 
+test_expect_success '"git log :(exclude)sub" is not ambiguous' '
+	git log ":(exclude)sub"
+'
+
+test_expect_success '"git log :(exclude)sub --" must resolve as an object' '
+	test_must_fail git log ":(exclude)sub" --
+'
+
+test_expect_success '"git log :(unknown-magic) complains of bogus magic' '
+	test_must_fail git log ":(unknown-magic)" 2>error &&
+	test_i18ngrep pathspec.magic error
+'
+
 test_expect_success 'command line pathspec parsing for "git log"' '
 	git reset --hard &&
 	>a &&