(Xenus cinereus), a bird of the family Charadriidae of the suborder Charadrii. Body length, 23–27 cm; weight, 60–100g. The plumage above is grayish brown with black stripes; the underpart is white. The terek inhabits the forest tundra and the forest zone of Europe and Asia (from western Finland to the upper Anadyr’); it winters in eastern Africa and southern Asia, rarely in Australia. The bird settles on riverbanks, lake shores, or damp meadows. The terek makes its nest on the ground. There are usually four eggs in a clutch; both parents incubate the eggs for 21 or 22 days. Tereks feed on small invertebrates, gathering them from the silt or from the ground.

a city (until 1967, a settlement) and administrative center of Terek Raion, Kabarda-Balkar ASSR. Terek has a railroad station (Murtazovo) on the Prokhladnaia-Beslan-Gudermes line, 59 km east of Nal’chik. The city has a diamond-tool plant, a cannery, a winery, and a grain elevator.

a river in the northern Caucasus that flows through the Georgian SSR, Severnaia Osetiia ASSR, Kabarda-Balkar ASSR, Chechen-Ingush ASSR, and Dagestan ASSR. The Terek is 623 km long and drains an area of 43,200 sq km. It originates on a slope of the Glavnyi, or Vodorazdel’nyi, Range, from the glacier on Mount Zil’gakhokh.

For the first 30 km, the Terek flows between the Glavnyi and Bokovoi ranges; it then turns north and transects the Bokovoi Range (through the Dar’ial Gorge), the Skalistyi Range, and the Chernye Mountains. Near the city of Ordzhonikidze, the Terek emerges onto a submontane plain, where it merges with its tributaries the Gizel’don, Ardon, Urukh, and Malka (with the Bak-san), all of which have high discharges. From the mouth of the Malka, the Terek flows in a sand and clay channel having numerous islands, bars, and shallows; below the mouth of the Sunzha, it divides into a number of branches and streams. The Terek empties into the Agrakhan Gulf of the Caspian Sea, forming a delta approximately 4,000 sq km in area. The position of the Terek’s main channel on the delta has changed many times; since 1941 most of the flow has passed through the channel of the Kargala Gap.

The river is fed in a variety of ways, approximately 70 percent of the flow being in spring and summer. Highest discharge is in July and August; lowest is in February. The mean flow rate is 34 cu m, per sec 530 km from the mouth (near Ordzhonikidze) and 305 cu m per sec 16 km from the mouth. Turbidity is 400–500 g per cu m, and each year the Terek transports between 9 and 26 million tons of suspended matter. The amount of ice formed on the river varies, with the river freezing only in severe winters. In its lower course, the Terek abounds with such fishes as salmon, trout, carp, and pike perch. The water is used for irrigation; diversions include the Terek-Kuma Canal and Lenin Canal. Two hydroelectric power plants and the cities of Ordzhonikidze, Mozdok, and Kizliar are situated on the river. The Georgian Military Road runs for a certain distance along the river’s valley.