diff --git a/ChangeLog b/ChangeLog
index becb3934..88ff952c 100644
--- a/ChangeLog
+++ b/ChangeLog
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 7/3/08 started 7.15.0
-- MAGIC numbers should be unsigned
-- write MAGIC correctly on sparc/powerpc machines
+- MAGIC constants should be tagged as unsigned
+- write MAGIC correctly on sparc/powerpc machines (thanks Joe)
 
 25/1/08 started 7.14.0
 - bump all version numbers for new stable
diff --git a/libsrc/iofuncs/im_desc_hd.c b/libsrc/iofuncs/im_desc_hd.c
index 23af15cb..34499fa4 100644
--- a/libsrc/iofuncs/im_desc_hd.c
+++ b/libsrc/iofuncs/im_desc_hd.c
@@ -186,13 +186,13 @@ im__write_header_bytes( IMAGE *im, unsigned char *to )
 	int i;
 	unsigned char *q;
 
-	/* Always write MSB first.
+	/* Always write the magic number MSB first.
 	 */
 	magic = im_amiMSBfirst() ? IM_MAGIC_SPARC : IM_MAGIC_INTEL;
-	to[0] = (magic & 0xff000000) >> 24;
-	to[1] = (magic & 0xff0000) >> 16;
-	to[2] = (magic & 0xff00) >> 8;
-	to[3] = magic & 0xff;
+	to[0] = magic >> 24;
+	to[1] = magic >> 16;
+	to[2] = magic >> 8;
+	to[3] = magic;
 	q = to + 4;
 
 	for( i = 0; i < IM_NUMBER( fields ); i++ )