diff -r 4ef8fdf57e39 -r 6cbfa740c129 mercurial/hg.py
--- a/mercurial/hg.py	Sat Jun 02 09:21:56 2007 -0500
+++ b/mercurial/hg.py	Fri Jun 01 18:52:18 2007 -0500
@@ -218,7 +218,11 @@
             dest_lock.release()
 
         if update:
-            _update(dest_repo, dest_repo.changelog.tip())
+            try:
+                checkout = dest_repo.lookup("default")
+            except:
+                checkout = dest_repo.changelog.tip()
+            _update(dest_repo, checkout)
     if dir_cleanup:
         dir_cleanup.close()