diff --git a/cake/libs/xml.php b/cake/libs/xml.php
index d4fbd182859..0c714dc44fd 100644
--- a/cake/libs/xml.php
+++ b/cake/libs/xml.php
@@ -302,10 +302,10 @@ function normalize($object, $keyName = null, $options = array()) {
  * @access private
  */
 	function __tagOptions($name, $option = null) {
-		if (isset($this->__tags[$name])) {
-			$tagOpts = $this->__tags[$name];
-		} elseif (isset($this->__tags[strtolower($name)])) {
-			$tagOpts = $this->__tags[strtolower($name)];
+		if (isset($this->_tags[$name])) {
+			$tagOpts = $this->_tags[$name];
+		} elseif (isset($this->_tags[strtolower($name)])) {
+			$tagOpts = $this->_tags[strtolower($name)];
 		} else {
 			return null;
 		}
@@ -810,18 +810,18 @@ class Xml extends XmlNode {
  * XML document header
  *
  * @var string
- * @access private
+ * @access protected
  */
-	private $__header = null;
+	protected $_header = null;
 
 /**
  * Default array keys/object properties to use as tag names when converting objects or array
  * structures to XML. Set by passing $options['tags'] to this object's constructor.
  *
  * @var array
- * @access private
+ * @access protected
  */
-	private $__tags = array();
+	protected $_tags = array();
 
 /**
  * XML document version
@@ -868,7 +868,7 @@ function __construct($input = null, $options = array()) {
 		foreach (array('version', 'encoding', 'namespaces') as $key) {
 			$this->{$key} = $options[$key];
 		}
-		$this->__tags = $options['tags'];
+		$this->_tags = $options['tags'];
 		parent::__construct('#document');
 
 		if ($options['root'] !== '#document') {
@@ -898,7 +898,7 @@ function load($input) {
 			return false;
 		}
 		$this->__rawData = null;
-		$this->__header = null;
+		$this->_header = null;
 
 		if (strstr($input, "<")) {
 			$this->__rawData = $input;
@@ -926,7 +926,7 @@ function load($input) {
 	function parse() {
 		$this->__initParser();
 		$this->__rawData = trim($this->__rawData);
-		$this->__header = trim(str_replace(
+		$this->_header = trim(str_replace(
 			array('<' . '?', '?' . '>'),
 			array('', ''),
 			substr($this->__rawData, 0, strpos($this->__rawData, '?' . '>'))
@@ -1098,8 +1098,8 @@ function toString($options = array()) {
 		$data = parent::toString($options, 0);
 
 		if ($options['header']) {
-			if (!empty($this->__header)) {
-				return $this->header($this->__header)  . "\n" . $data;
+			if (!empty($this->_header)) {
+				return $this->header($this->_header)  . "\n" . $data;
 			}
 			return $this->header()  . "\n" . $data;
 		}
diff --git a/cake/tests/cases/libs/xml.test.php b/cake/tests/cases/libs/xml.test.php
index c8358210a34..376a3c7b02c 100644
--- a/cake/tests/cases/libs/xml.test.php
+++ b/cake/tests/cases/libs/xml.test.php
@@ -19,6 +19,25 @@
  */
 App::import('Core', 'Xml');
 
+/**
+ * Test XML Class
+ *
+ * @package cake
+ * @subpackage cake.tests.cases.libs
+ */
+class TestXml extends Xml {
+
+/**
+ * Return the protected _header instance variable
+ *
+ * @return string Header
+ * @access public
+ */
+	function getHeader() {
+		return $this->_header;
+	}
+}
+
 /**
  * XmlTest class
  *
@@ -488,17 +507,17 @@ function testParsingWithNonStandardWhitespace() {
 		$raw = '<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1" ?><prices><price>1.0</price></prices>';
 		$array = array('Prices' => array('price' => 1.0));
 
-		$xml = new Xml($raw);
+		$xml = new TestXml($raw);
 		$this->assertEqual($xml->toArray(), $array);
-		$this->assertEqual($xml->__header, 'xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1"');
+		$this->assertEqual($xml->getHeader(), 'xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1"');
 
-		$xml = new Xml(' ' . $raw);
+		$xml = new TestXml(' ' . $raw);
 		$this->assertEqual($xml->toArray(), $array);
-		$this->assertEqual($xml->__header, 'xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1"');
+		$this->assertEqual($xml->getHeader(), 'xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1"');
 
-		$xml = new Xml("\n" . $raw);
+		$xml = new TestXml("\n" . $raw);
 		$this->assertEqual($xml->toArray(), $array);
-		$this->assertEqual($xml->__header, 'xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1"');
+		$this->assertEqual($xml->getHeader(), 'xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1"');
 	}
 
 	/* Not implemented yet */