diff --git a/.travis.yml b/.travis.yml
index 34b765642a9..c7ddd1326d5 100644
--- a/.travis.yml
+++ b/.travis.yml
@@ -34,6 +34,10 @@ matrix:
             - ack-grep
     - env: TOX_ENV=py34-unit
       addons: *py3_addons
+    - os: osx
+      # No version of Python is available via virtualenv on OS X workers, see https://github.com/travis-ci/travis-ci/issues/2312
+      language: generic
+      env: TOX_ENV=py27-first_startup
 
 before_install:
   # Workaround for https://github.com/travis-ci/travis-ci/issues/7940