diff --git a/lib/fog/core/collection.rb b/lib/fog/core/collection.rb
index 6875cb766..7dd1f2fbf 100644
--- a/lib/fog/core/collection.rb
+++ b/lib/fog/core/collection.rb
@@ -94,6 +94,7 @@ module Fog
     end
 
     def new(attributes = {})
+      raise ArgumentError, "Initialization parameters must be an attributes hash, got #{attributes.inspect}" unless attributes.respond_to? :merge
       model.new(
         attributes.merge(
           :collection => self,