'contribution_id' => false results in unexpected behavior

An API call as
$params = array(
'contribution_id' => false,
'version' => 3,
'check_permissions' => false,
);
$contribution = civicrm_api( 'Contribution', 'Get', $params);
does not result in an API response containing an error message but the following error:
Sorry. A non-recoverable error has occurred.
is not of the type Integer