diff --git a/spacy/tests/regression/test_issue1612.py b/spacy/tests/regression/test_issue1612.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..4587a785f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/spacy/tests/regression/test_issue1612.py
@@ -0,0 +1,12 @@
+from __future__ import unicode_literals
+
+import pytest
+
+from ...lang.en import English
+
+
+def test_issue1612():
+    nlp = English()
+    doc = nlp('The black cat purrs.')
+    span = doc[1: 3]
+    assert span.orth_ == span.text