diff --git a/docs/configuration.rst b/docs/configuration.rst
index f7f8ffa6..8ae3cc8f 100644
--- a/docs/configuration.rst
+++ b/docs/configuration.rst
@@ -126,6 +126,7 @@ configuration option. The default is:
  yaml-files:
  - '*.yaml'
  - '*.yml'
+ - '.yamllint'
 
 The same rules as for ignoring paths apply (``.gitignore``-style path pattern,
 see below).
diff --git a/tests/test_config.py b/tests/test_config.py
index d6763828..b48546c9 100644
--- a/tests/test_config.py
+++ b/tests/test_config.py
@@ -448,11 +448,13 @@ def test_run_with_ignored_path(self):
         out = sys.stdout.getvalue()
         out = '\n'.join(sorted(out.splitlines()))
 
+        docstart = '[warning] missing document start "---" (document-start)'
         keydup = '[error] duplication of key "key" in mapping (key-duplicates)'
         trailing = '[error] trailing spaces (trailing-spaces)'
         hyphen = '[error] too many spaces after hyphen (hyphens)'
 
         self.assertEqual(out, '\n'.join((
+            './.yamllint:1:1: ' + docstart,
             './bin/file.lint-me-anyway.yaml:3:3: ' + keydup,
             './bin/file.lint-me-anyway.yaml:4:17: ' + trailing,
             './bin/file.lint-me-anyway.yaml:5:5: ' + hyphen,
diff --git a/yamllint/conf/default.yaml b/yamllint/conf/default.yaml
index f0c1eddf..dc4adf18 100644
--- a/yamllint/conf/default.yaml
+++ b/yamllint/conf/default.yaml
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@
 yaml-files:
   - '*.yaml'
   - '*.yml'
+  - '.yamllint'
 
 rules:
   braces: enable
diff --git a/yamllint/config.py b/yamllint/config.py
index a9384d6c..0837799f 100644
--- a/yamllint/config.py
+++ b/yamllint/config.py
@@ -33,7 +33,7 @@ def __init__(self, content=None, file=None):
         self.ignore = None
 
         self.yaml_files = pathspec.PathSpec.from_lines(
-            'gitwildmatch', ['*.yaml', '*.yml'])
+            'gitwildmatch', ['*.yaml', '*.yml', '.yamllint'])
 
         if file is not None:
             with open(file) as f: