diff --git a/swift/common/middleware/bulk.py b/swift/common/middleware/bulk.py
index 050d1cea86..5de3365b5f 100644
--- a/swift/common/middleware/bulk.py
+++ b/swift/common/middleware/bulk.py
@@ -380,6 +380,10 @@ class Bulk(object):
             query request.
         """
         last_yield = time()
+        if out_content_type and out_content_type.endswith('/xml'):
+            to_yield = '<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>\n'
+        else:
+            to_yield = ' '
         separator = ''
         failed_files = []
         resp_dict = {'Response Status': HTTPOk().status,
@@ -390,8 +394,6 @@ class Bulk(object):
         try:
             if not out_content_type:
                 raise HTTPNotAcceptable(request=req)
-            if out_content_type.endswith('/xml'):
-                yield '<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>\n'
 
             try:
                 vrs, account, _junk = req.split_path(2, 3, True)
@@ -452,9 +454,9 @@ class Bulk(object):
                     for resp, obj_name, retry in pile.asyncstarmap(
                             do_delete, names_to_delete):
                         if last_yield + self.yield_frequency < time():
-                            separator = '\r\n\r\n'
                             last_yield = time()
-                            yield ' '
+                            yield to_yield
+                            to_yield, separator = ' ', '\r\n\r\n'
                         self._process_delete(resp, pile, obj_name,
                                              resp_dict, failed_files,
                                              failed_file_response, retry)
@@ -462,9 +464,9 @@ class Bulk(object):
                             # Abort, but drain off the in-progress deletes
                             for resp, obj_name, retry in pile:
                                 if last_yield + self.yield_frequency < time():
-                                    separator = '\r\n\r\n'
                                     last_yield = time()
-                                    yield ' '
+                                    yield to_yield
+                                    to_yield, separator = ' ', '\r\n\r\n'
                                 # Don't pass in the pile, as we shouldn't retry
                                 self._process_delete(
                                     resp, None, obj_name, resp_dict,
@@ -508,14 +510,16 @@ class Bulk(object):
                      'Response Body': '', 'Number Files Created': 0}
         failed_files = []
         last_yield = time()
+        if out_content_type and out_content_type.endswith('/xml'):
+            to_yield = '<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>\n'
+        else:
+            to_yield = ' '
         separator = ''
         containers_accessed = set()
         req.environ['eventlet.minimum_write_chunk_size'] = 0
         try:
             if not out_content_type:
                 raise HTTPNotAcceptable(request=req)
-            if out_content_type.endswith('/xml'):
-                yield '<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>\n'
 
             if req.content_length is None and \
                     req.headers.get('transfer-encoding',
@@ -533,9 +537,9 @@ class Bulk(object):
             containers_created = 0
             while True:
                 if last_yield + self.yield_frequency < time():
-                    separator = '\r\n\r\n'
                     last_yield = time()
-                    yield ' '
+                    yield to_yield
+                    to_yield, separator = ' ', '\r\n\r\n'
                 tar_info = next(tar)
                 if tar_info is None or \
                         len(failed_files) >= self.max_failed_extractions:
diff --git a/test/functional/__init__.py b/test/functional/__init__.py
index 4de44b418c..cd32a210f3 100644
--- a/test/functional/__init__.py
+++ b/test/functional/__init__.py
@@ -1289,3 +1289,15 @@ def requires_policies(f):
         return f(self, *args, **kwargs)
 
     return wrapper
+
+
+def requires_bulk(f):
+    @functools.wraps(f)
+    def wrapper(*args, **kwargs):
+        if skip or not cluster_info:
+            raise SkipTest('Requires bulk middleware')
+        # Determine whether this cluster has bulk middleware; if not, skip test
+        if not cluster_info.get('bulk_upload', {}):
+            raise SkipTest('Requires bulk middleware')
+        return f(*args, **kwargs)
+    return wrapper
diff --git a/test/functional/test_object.py b/test/functional/test_object.py
index 0e99b21dc0..d3aa4bbcf1 100644
--- a/test/functional/test_object.py
+++ b/test/functional/test_object.py
@@ -20,11 +20,12 @@ import json
 import unittest2
 from uuid import uuid4
 import time
+from xml.dom import minidom
 
 from six.moves import range
 
 from test.functional import check_response, retry, requires_acls, \
-    requires_policies, SkipTest
+    requires_policies, SkipTest, requires_bulk
 import test.functional as tf
 
 
@@ -1646,6 +1647,37 @@ class TestObject(unittest2.TestCase):
             self.assertEqual(resp.status, 200)
             self.assertEqual(body, resp.read())
 
+    @requires_bulk
+    def test_bulk_delete(self):
+
+        def bulk_delete(url, token, parsed, conn):
+            # try to bulk delete the object that was created during test setup
+            conn.request('DELETE', '%s/%s/%s?bulk-delete' % (
+                parsed.path, self.container, self.obj),
+                '%s/%s' % (self.container, self.obj),
+                {'X-Auth-Token': token,
+                 'Accept': 'application/xml',
+                 'Expect': '100-continue',
+                 'Content-Type': 'text/plain'})
+            return check_response(conn)
+        resp = retry(bulk_delete)
+        self.assertEqual(resp.status, 200)
+        body = resp.read()
+        tree = minidom.parseString(body)
+        self.assertEqual(tree.documentElement.tagName, 'delete')
+
+        errors = tree.getElementsByTagName('errors')
+        self.assertEqual(len(errors), 1)
+        errors = [c.data if c.nodeType == c.TEXT_NODE else c.childNodes[0].data
+                  for c in errors[0].childNodes
+                  if c.nodeType != c.TEXT_NODE or c.data.strip()]
+        self.assertEqual(errors, [])
+
+        final_status = tree.getElementsByTagName('response_status')
+        self.assertEqual(len(final_status), 1)
+        self.assertEqual(len(final_status[0].childNodes), 1)
+        self.assertEqual(final_status[0].childNodes[0].data, '200 OK')
+
 
 if __name__ == '__main__':
     unittest2.main()