diff --git a/History.rdoc b/History.rdoc
index 9d23b6515..8906c73b7 100644
--- a/History.rdoc
+++ b/History.rdoc
@@ -3,6 +3,8 @@
 Bug fixes:
 
 * Use sysctl for CPU count for all BSDs.  Pull request #261 by Joshua Stein.
+* File tasks including a ':' are now top-level tasks again.  Issue #262 by
+  Josh Holtrop.
 
 === 10.2.0 / 2014-03-24
 
diff --git a/lib/rake/task_manager.rb b/lib/rake/task_manager.rb
index c5348190d..af53e3f58 100644
--- a/lib/rake/task_manager.rb
+++ b/lib/rake/task_manager.rb
@@ -27,7 +27,8 @@ def define_task(task_class, *args, &block) # :nodoc:
       task_name, arg_names, deps = resolve_args(args)
 
       original_scope = @scope
-      if(task_name.is_a? String)
+      if String === task_name and
+         not task_class.ancestors.include? Rake::FileTask then
         task_name, *definition_scope = *(task_name.split(":").reverse)
         @scope = Scope.make(*(definition_scope + @scope.to_a))
       end
diff --git a/test/test_rake_directory_task.rb b/test/test_rake_directory_task.rb
index 8ae7537b5..c8275e6d1 100644
--- a/test/test_rake_directory_task.rb
+++ b/test/test_rake_directory_task.rb
@@ -25,6 +25,12 @@ def test_directory
     refute File.exist?("a/b/c")
   end
 
+  def test_directory_colon
+    directory "a:b"
+
+    assert_equal FileCreationTask, Task['a:b'].class
+  end unless Rake::Win32.windows?
+
   if Rake::Win32.windows?
     def test_directory_win32
       desc "WIN32 DESC"