diff --git a/darts/tests/test_timeseries.py b/darts/tests/test_timeseries.py
index a173eb86d3..d8520a334b 100644
--- a/darts/tests/test_timeseries.py
+++ b/darts/tests/test_timeseries.py
@@ -1358,6 +1358,11 @@ def test_head_overshot_sample_axis(self):
         result = self.ts.head(20, axis="sample")
         self.assertEqual(10, result.n_samples)
 
+    def test_head_numeric_time_index(self):
+        s = TimeSeries.from_values(self.ts.values())
+        # taking the head should not crash
+        s.head()
+
     def test_tail_overshot_time_axis(self):
         result = self.ts.tail(20)
         self.assertEqual(10, result.n_timesteps)
@@ -1371,6 +1376,11 @@ def test_tail_overshot_sample_axis(self):
         result = self.ts.tail(20, axis="sample")
         self.assertEqual(10, result.n_samples)
 
+    def test_tail_numeric_time_index(self):
+        s = TimeSeries.from_values(self.ts.values())
+        # taking the tail should not crash
+        s.tail()
+
 
 class TimeSeriesFromDataFrameTestCase(DartsBaseTestClass):
     def test_from_dataframe_sunny_day(self):
diff --git a/darts/timeseries.py b/darts/timeseries.py
index 8f31a8d80f..26d581afe4 100644
--- a/darts/timeseries.py
+++ b/darts/timeseries.py
@@ -1261,8 +1261,12 @@ def head(
         """
 
         axis_str = self._get_dim_name(axis)
-        display_n = range(min(size, self._xa.sizes[axis_str]))
-        return self.__class__(self._xa[{axis_str: display_n}])
+        display_n = min(size, self._xa.sizes[axis_str])
+
+        if axis_str == self._time_dim:
+            return self[:display_n]
+        else:
+            return self.__class__(self._xa[{axis_str: range(display_n)}])
 
     def tail(
         self, size: Optional[int] = 5, axis: Optional[Union[int, str]] = 0
@@ -1284,8 +1288,12 @@ def tail(
         """
 
         axis_str = self._get_dim_name(axis)
-        display_n = range(-min(size, self._xa.sizes[axis_str]), 0)
-        return self.__class__(self._xa[{axis_str: display_n}])
+        display_n = min(size, self._xa.sizes[axis_str])
+
+        if axis_str == self._time_dim:
+            return self[-display_n:]
+        else:
+            return self.__class__(self._xa[{axis_str: range(-display_n, 0)}])
 
     def concatenate(
         self,