BUG? server closed the connection unexpectedly 7.4 on Windows (cygwin)

The following query yields:

PublishWorks=> select count(*) from merchandise.ds_item(6);
 count
-------
   815
(1 row)

Yet the following produces:

PublishWorks=> select count(item.*) from merchandise.ds_item(6) item;
server closed the connection unexpectedly
        This probably means the server terminated abnormally
        before or while processing the request.
The connection to the server was lost. Attempting reset: Failed.
!>

As does:

PublishWorks=> select count(item.*) from merchandise.ds_item(6) as item;
server closed the connection unexpectedly
        This probably means the server terminated abnormally
        before or while processing the request.
The connection to the server was lost. Attempting reset: Failed.
!>