diff --git a/Lib/xml/dom/minidom.py b/Lib/xml/dom/minidom.py
index 75ff3c3..963b6d0 100644
--- a/Lib/xml/dom/minidom.py
+++ b/Lib/xml/dom/minidom.py
@@ -44,7 +44,7 @@
 else:
     def NodeList():
         return []
-    
+
 
 class Node(xml.dom.Node):
     allnodes = {}
@@ -584,10 +584,10 @@
         return self._attrsNS.has_key((namespaceURI, localName))
 
     def getElementsByTagName(self, name):
-        return _getElementsByTagNameHelper(self, name, [])
+        return _getElementsByTagNameHelper(self, name, NodeList())
 
     def getElementsByTagNameNS(self, namespaceURI, localName):
-        return _getElementsByTagNameNSHelper(self, namespaceURI, localName, [])
+        return _getElementsByTagNameNSHelper(self, namespaceURI, localName, NodeList())
 
     def __repr__(self):
         return "<DOM Element: %s at %s>" % (self.tagName, id(self))
@@ -932,10 +932,10 @@
         return a
 
     def getElementsByTagName(self, name):
-        return _getElementsByTagNameHelper(self, name, [])
+        return _getElementsByTagNameHelper(self, name, NodeList())
 
     def getElementsByTagNameNS(self, namespaceURI, localName):
-        return _getElementsByTagNameNSHelper(self, namespaceURI, localName, [])
+        return _getElementsByTagNameNSHelper(self, namespaceURI, localName, NodeList())
 
     def writexml(self, writer, indent="", addindent="", newl=""):
         writer.write('<?xml version="1.0" ?>\n')