diff --git a/Lib/html/parser.py b/Lib/html/parser.py
index 9db8ab582be..aa31fbc5b1b 100644
--- a/Lib/html/parser.py
+++ b/Lib/html/parser.py
@@ -270,12 +270,13 @@ class HTMLParser(_markupbase.ParserBase):
         if rawdata[i:i+2] != '<!':
             self.error('unexpected call to parse_html_declaration()')
         if rawdata[i:i+4] == '<!--':
+            # this case is actually already handled in goahead()
             return self.parse_comment(i)
         elif rawdata[i:i+3] == '<![':
             return self.parse_marked_section(i)
         elif rawdata[i:i+9].lower() == '<!doctype':
             # find the closing >
-            gtpos = rawdata.find('>', 9)
+            gtpos = rawdata.find('>', i+9)
             if gtpos == -1:
                 return -1
             self.handle_decl(rawdata[i+2:gtpos])
diff --git a/Lib/test/test_htmlparser.py b/Lib/test/test_htmlparser.py
index 1da2ce4f9b7..e2b09a96c03 100644
--- a/Lib/test/test_htmlparser.py
+++ b/Lib/test/test_htmlparser.py
@@ -393,7 +393,6 @@ class HTMLParserTolerantTestCase(HTMLParserStrictTestCase):
         self._run_check("<!DOCTYPE foo $ >", [('decl', 'DOCTYPE foo $ ')])
 
     def test_illegal_declarations(self):
-        # XXX this might be wrong
         self._run_check('<!spacer type="block" height="25">',
                         [('comment', 'spacer type="block" height="25"')])