diff --git a/numpydoc/docscrape.py b/numpydoc/docscrape.py
index 359e6539..8acc54cf 100644
--- a/numpydoc/docscrape.py
+++ b/numpydoc/docscrape.py
@@ -91,7 +91,7 @@ def is_empty(self):
 
 class ParseError(Exception):
     def __str__(self):
-        message = self.message
+        message = self.args[0]
         if hasattr(self, 'docstring'):
             message = "%s in %r" % (message, self.docstring)
         return message
diff --git a/numpydoc/tests/test_docscrape.py b/numpydoc/tests/test_docscrape.py
index a7ebdb0b..f52271b7 100644
--- a/numpydoc/tests/test_docscrape.py
+++ b/numpydoc/tests/test_docscrape.py
@@ -6,7 +6,12 @@
 
 import jinja2
 
-from numpydoc.docscrape import NumpyDocString, FunctionDoc, ClassDoc
+from numpydoc.docscrape import (
+    NumpyDocString,
+    FunctionDoc,
+    ClassDoc,
+    ParseError
+)
 from numpydoc.docscrape_sphinx import SphinxDocString, SphinxClassDoc
 from nose.tools import *
 
@@ -635,6 +640,23 @@ def test_see_also():
         elif func == 'class_j':
             assert desc == ['fubar', 'foobar']
 
+
+def test_see_also_parse_error():
+    text = (
+    """
+    z(x,theta)
+
+    See Also
+    --------
+    :func:`~foo`
+    """)
+    with assert_raises(ParseError) as err:
+        NumpyDocString(text)
+    assert_equal(
+        str(r":func:`~foo` is not a item name in '\n    z(x,theta)\n\n    See Also\n    --------\n    :func:`~foo`\n    '"),
+        str(err.exception)
+    )
+
 def test_see_also_print():
     class Dummy(object):
         """