hg pull -B <bookmark> fails with error: "ref <ref> not found on remote server"

[travisfw]

Seems like I should be able to pull specific git branches from the remote repo with hg pull -B

This is what the error looks like for me:

$ hg pull -B master
pulling from git+ssh://[email protected]:9999/x.git
abort: ref x not found on remote server
$ echo $?
255
$ hg version
Mercurial Distributed SCM (version 3.7.3)
(see https://mercurial-scm.org for more information)

Copyright (C) 2005-2016 Matt Mackall and others
This is free software; see the source for copying conditions. There is NO
warranty; not even for MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.
$ python --version
Python 2.7.11
$ pushd ~/ware/hg-git
$ hg par --template "{node|short}\n"
3f5c822b93b1