diff --git a/lib/proto.js b/lib/proto.js
index 52f398b..5873397 100644
--- a/lib/proto.js
+++ b/lib/proto.js
@@ -181,7 +181,7 @@ exports.save = function(fn){
     .send(self)
     .end(function(err, res){
       if (err || res.error)
-        return fn(error(err,res), res);
+        return fn(self.error(err,res), res);
 
       if (res.body) self.primary(res.body[key]);
       self.dirty = {};
@@ -299,8 +299,3 @@ exports.toJSON = function(){
  * @api private
  */
 
-function error(err, res) {
-  if (err) return err;
-  else return new Error('got ' + res.status + ' response');
-}
-exports.error = error;