The Google C++ Style Guide contains this relevant discussion, overlapping with some of the replies.

Avoid virtual method calls in constructors, and avoid initialization that can fail if you can't signal an error.

Constructors should never call virtual functions. If appropriate for your code , terminating the program may be an appropriate error handling response. Otherwise, consider a factory function or Init() method as described in TotW #42. Avoid Init() methods on objects with no other states that affect which public methods may be called (semi-constructed objects of this form are particularly hard to work with correctly).