diff --git a/requests/models.py b/requests/models.py
index d13a5ec1..1a434740 100644
--- a/requests/models.py
+++ b/requests/models.py
@@ -216,9 +216,6 @@ class Request(RequestHooksMixin):
         params = {} if params is None else params
         hooks = {} if hooks is None else hooks
 
-        # Default empty string for method.
-        method = '' if method is None else method
-
         self.hooks = default_hooks()
         for (k, v) in list(hooks.items()):
             self.register_hook(event=k, hook=v)
diff --git a/test_requests.py b/test_requests.py
index 27f4929b..c377cc56 100755
--- a/test_requests.py
+++ b/test_requests.py
@@ -110,7 +110,7 @@ class TestRequests(object):
             requests.get('http://')
 
     def test_basic_building(self):
-        req = requests.Request()
+        req = requests.Request(method='GET')
         req.url = 'http://kennethreitz.org/'
         req.data = {'life': '42'}
 
@@ -166,7 +166,8 @@ class TestRequests(object):
         s = requests.Session()
         s.proxies = getproxies()
         parts = urlparse(httpbin('get'))
-        schemes = ['http://', 'HTTP://', 'hTTp://', 'HttP://']
+        schemes = ['http://', 'HTTP://', 'hTTp://', 'HttP://',
+                   'https://', 'HTTPS://', 'hTTps://', 'HttPs://']
         for scheme in schemes:
             url = scheme + parts.netloc + parts.path
             r = requests.Request('GET', url)