diff --git a/lib/homesick.rb b/lib/homesick.rb
index 313117e..64d6d1e 100644
--- a/lib/homesick.rb
+++ b/lib/homesick.rb
@@ -30,6 +30,9 @@ class Homesick < Thor
       elsif uri =~ /\/([^\/]*)(\.git)?\Z/
         destination = Pathname.new($1)
         git_clone uri
+      elsif uri =~ /[^:]+:([^:]+)(\.git)?\Z/
+        destination = Pathname.new($1)
+        git_clone uri
       else
         raise "Unknown URI format: #{uri}"
       end
diff --git a/spec/homesick_spec.rb b/spec/homesick_spec.rb
index 2da7971..25b7859 100644
--- a/spec/homesick_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/homesick_spec.rb
@@ -40,6 +40,12 @@ describe Homesick do
       @homesick.clone 'http://github.com/technicalpickles/pickled-vim'
     end
 
+    it "should clone git repo like host-alias:repos.git" do
+      @homesick.should_receive(:git_clone).with('gitolite:pickled-vim.git')
+
+      @homesick.clone 'gitolite:pickled-vim.git'
+    end
+
     it "should not try to clone a malformed uri like malformed" do
       @homesick.should_not_receive(:git_clone)