diff --git a/lib/jekyll-github-metadata/client.rb b/lib/jekyll-github-metadata/client.rb
index aab378b..29c882e 100644
--- a/lib/jekyll-github-metadata/client.rb
+++ b/lib/jekyll-github-metadata/client.rb
@@ -95,6 +95,9 @@ def save_from_errors(default = false)
       rescue Faraday::ConnectionFailed, Octokit::TooManyRequests => e
         GitHubMetadata.log :warn, e.message
         default
+      rescue Octokit::Forbidden => e
+        GitHubMetadata.log :warn, "#{e.message} This is a limitation of the GitHub API."
+        default
       rescue Octokit::NotFound
         default
       end
diff --git a/spec/client_spec.rb b/spec/client_spec.rb
index 7ab97f2..c05c31f 100644
--- a/spec/client_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/client_spec.rb
@@ -39,6 +39,23 @@
     end.to raise_error(described_class::BadCredentialsError)
   end
 
+  it "warns and returns false when contributors list is too large" do
+    stub_request(:get, url("/repos/jekyll/github-metadata/contributors?per_page=100"))
+      .with(:headers => request_headers.merge(
+        "Authorization" => "token #{token}"
+      ))
+      .to_return(
+        :status  => 403,
+        :headers => WebMockHelper::RESPONSE_HEADERS,
+        :body    => webmock_data("contributors_forbidden")
+      )
+    logger_output = StringIO.new
+    Jekyll::GitHubMetadata.logger = Logger.new(logger_output)
+    result = subject.contributors("jekyll/github-metadata")
+    expect(result).to be(false)
+    expect(logger_output.string).to include("This is a limitation of the GitHub API")
+  end
+
   it "supresses network accesses if requested" do
     WebMock.disable_net_connect!
 
diff --git a/spec/webmock/api_get_contributors_forbidden.json b/spec/webmock/api_get_contributors_forbidden.json
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..3f89d7a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/spec/webmock/api_get_contributors_forbidden.json
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+{
+  "message": "The history or contributor list is too large to list contributors for this repository via the API.",
+  "documentation_url": "https://docs.github.com/rest/repos/repos#list-repository-contributors"
+}